In this study, micro tubular SOFCs under I mm diameter have been fabricated and investigated at 450-550 degrees C operating temperature with H-2 fuel. The performance of the 0.8mm diameter tubular SOFC was 110-350mW cm(-2) at 450-550 degrees C operating temperatures. To maximize the performance of the cell as well as to optimize the geometry of tubular cells, a current collecting method used in the experiment was examined. A model was proposed to estimate the loss of performance for single cell due to the current collecting method as functions of anode tube length and thickness. The results showed that the losses of performance were calculated to be 0.8, 2.0, and 4.6% at 450, 500, and 550 degrees C operating temperatures, respectively, for the 0.8 mm diameter tubular SOFC with the length of 1.2 cm. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.