AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 12, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Superconductor Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:SCON) ("STI"), a world leader in the development and production of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies, has completed acceptance testing of its Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP) system. The equipment has been shipped and received at STI's Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Austin.
"We now have our complete 2G HTS wire production suite on site at our new Austin facility," said Adam Shelton, STI's VP of Marketing and Product Line Management. "We expect to have the system completely installed and operational by 2012 year end. Achieving this program milestone positions us to meet the growing demand for our Conductus® wire in 2013 and begin preparations for commercial production in 2014."
The SDP and Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) machine that was installed in April will work together to produce one kilometer lengths of complete wire template. This template will be used in the next generation Reactive Coevaporation Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR) system that was installed in October. The RCE-CDR system deposits the HTS material onto the template using STI's proprietary process.
About Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP)
SDP is a foundational step in STI's Conductus wire manufacturing process used to increase power densities at the same time being optimized for low cost and high throughput. SDP serves two very important roles: planarization and a diffusion barrier.
For proper growth of superconducting materials, surface conditions must be very smooth. SDP creates a smooth starting surface, while eliminating the need to polish the template, reducing both cost and chemical waste. This process eliminates strong acids associated with electroplating alternatives. STI has produced SDP templates with one nanometer root mean square (RMS) surface roughness starting from unpolished metal tape. The SDP also acts as a diffusion barrier, blocking metal contaminates from the substrate passing into the superconducting layers.
About Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI)
Superconductor Technologies Inc., headquartered in Austin, TX, has been a world leader in HTS materials since 1987, developing more than 100 patents as well as proprietary trade secrets and manufacturing expertise. For more than a decade, STI has been providing innovative interference elimination and network enhancement solutions to the commercial wireless industry. The company is currently leveraging its key enabling technologies, including RF filtering, HTS materials and cryogenics to develop energy efficient, cost-effective and high performance second generation (2G) HTS wire for existing and emerging power applications. Superconductor Technologies Inc.'s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol "SCON." For more information about STI, please visit http://www.suptech.com.
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Forward-looking statements can be affected by many other factors, including, those described in the "Business" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of STI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and in STI's other public filings. These documents are available online at STI's website, www.suptech.com, or through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements are based on information presently available to senior management, and STI has not assumed any duty to update any forward-looking statements.
Contacts
Investor Relations, invest@suptech.com, Cathy Mattison or Becky Herrick of LHA, +1-415-433-3777, for Superconductor Technologies Inc.