A self-supporting thin-film battery is manufacture by forming on the upper surface of a support substrate a vertical active stack having as a lower layer a metal layer having formed therein a first contact terminal of a first polarity of the battery and having formed therein as an upper layer a metal layer having a second contact terminal of a second polarity of the battery. A support film is then bonded to an upper surface of the upper layer. The lower layer is the separated from the substrate by projecting a laser beam through the substrate from a lower surface thereof to impinge on the lower layer.