The electrochemical behavior of all-solid-state lithium microbatteries using crystalline sputtered V2O5 thin films as cathode materials and Li phosphorus oxynitride as solid electrolytes is reported. Vanadium oxide films are deposited by radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. The results for thin-film batteries using c-V2O5 are discussed and compared with those known for all-solid-state lithium microbatteries usually using amorphous V2O5. Depending on the oxygen flow rate used during deposition, porous or dense crystalline V2O5 films are obtained. The stable discharge capacity of 35 mu Ah/cm(2) achieved at a current density of 10 mu A/cm(2) between 3.8 and 2.15 V with a 0.6 mu m thick porous film can be improved with the use of a 1 mu m thick dense film, which delivers 50 mu Ah/cm(2) with high stability upon cycling. At a high current density of 100 mu A/cm(2), a specific capacity of 25 mu Ah/cm(2) is obtained without any capacity fading over 100 cycles. This work shows that crystalline V2O5 thin films prepared by rf magnetron reactive sputtering are attractive cathode materials for rechargeable all-solid-state thin-film lithium microbatteries.