A thick film cathode has been fabricated by a screen-printing technique using LiCoO2 paste to improve the discharge capacity in lithium ion micro-batteries. The LiCoO2 thick film (about 6 mu m) was obtained by screen-printing, but high discharge capacity and a suitable surface roughness of printed LiCoO2 film cathodes could not be obtained by adding carbon black only to the LiCoO2 paste. On the other hand, the printed cathode which was prepared using the mixture of carbon-coated LiCoO2 powders and carbon black showed a typical discharge curve of a LiCoO2 cathode with a high discharge capacity (179 mu Ah cm(-2)). (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.