STI Enters Final Stage of Conductus Wire Production Equipment Assembly

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI) (Nasdaq:SCON), a world leader in the development and production of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies, announced that it has received and installed the vacuum deposition chamber, completing the hardware installation for the one kilometer Reactive Co-evaporation (RCE) system. The completion of the RCE system is the final of the three machines necessary to manufacture commercial volumes of Conductus^® superconducting wire in kilometer lengths. STI has begun the final assembly of machine hardware and is making final preparations for putting the machine in service.

Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer, stated, "The installation of the vacuum deposition chamber marks a significant milestone in our plan to produce Conductus wire in commercial volumes in the fourth quarter of 2014. We are focused on bringing the one kilometer RCE production equipment online as soon as possible. As wire production ramps, we expect to ship enough volume to customers for them to conclude their performance evaluation and qualification testing in their electrical devices. Our plan is to have the system operational in the fourth quarter of 2014 and to ramp capacity during the first quarter of 2015. STI expects this machine to produce an initial capacity of 750 kilometers of Conductus wire per year."

Conductus^® Superconducting Wire Manufacturing

To produce Conductus wire there are three key manufacturing processes:

(1) Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP) to smooth commercial-grade stainless steel or hastelloy substrate;

(2)  Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) to produce the right surface conditions on the substrate to form a template; and

(3)  The proprietary Reactive Co-evaporation Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR) of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials onto the template.

Production equipment for the SDP and IBAD processes are already complete and producing templates that meet production requirements. The one kilometer RCE system, which is nearing completion, is made up of three components: The source chamber, the vacuum deposition chamber and the process control system. The source chamber has been operating independently and enabled STI to test the vacuum pumps, material sources and the majority of the control software. The vacuum deposition chamber is now installed and the final components are being assembled. 

Photographs of the installation progress of the new RCE machine are posted at www.suptech.com.

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, to develop applications for advanced RF wireless solutions and innovative adaptive filtering, and for government R&D. 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.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release regarding our business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the ability of our suppliers, who we do not control, to produce and deliver equipment on a timely basis; our ability to incorporate and fully assemble new equipment effectively and on time into our production processes; our ability to calibrate and use new equipment to produce wire in accordance with our timetable; our limited cash and a history of losses; the limited number of potential customers; the limited number of suppliers for some of our components and our HTS wire; there being no significant backlog from quarter to quarter; our market being characterized by rapidly advancing technology; overcoming technical challenges in attaining milestones to develop and manufacture commercial lengths of our HTS wire; customer acceptance of our HTS wire; fluctuations in product demand from quarter to quarter; the impact of competitive filter products, technologies and pricing; manufacturing capacity constraints and difficulties; our ability to raise sufficient capital to fund our operations (whether through registered direct offerings or otherwise), and the impact on our strategic wire initiative of any inability to raise such funds; the impact of any such financing activity on the level of our stock price, which may decline in connection with the sales under registered direct offerings or otherwise; the dilutive impact of any issuances of securities to raise capital; and local, regional, and national and international economic conditions and events and the impact they may have on us and our customers, such as the current worldwide recession.

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, 2013 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.