U.S. Display Consortium Awards Development Contracts to CHA Industries and to Supertex, Inc.; New Display Projects Valued at $4.2M

Business Wire, Nov 1, 1999

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 1999--

The United States Display Consortium (USDC), a private/public partnership building a flat panel display (FPD) infrastructure, announced today the award of two development contracts. CHA Industries of Fremont, California, will receive $1.5M from USDC to build a web coating deposition tool. Supertex, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California, will receive $600,000 to produce high-voltage drivers suitable for use in large area plasma displays (PDPs) and vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs). CHA Industries and Supertex, Inc. will match the funding provided by USDC under a fifty-percent cost-share formula, bringing the total investment in developing these new capabilities to $4.2M.

CHA Industries will develop a roll coater for depositing the materials required to fabricate thin film transistors (TFT's) on plastic webs. In addition, this tool will also be used for the examination of OLED film deposition on webs. "The award to CHA marks the beginning of our fifth project in support of flexible display manufacturing, but our first award for a prototype manufacturing tool," stated Bob Pinnel, Chief Technical Officer of USDC. "Earlier awards were for substrate development, so a tool program represents a big step forward in developing an understanding of the issues and requirements for the eventual manufacture of flexible displays," he added.

"CHA Industries is pleased to continue our involvement in the FPD industry and applications through our partnership with USDC and our pending delivery of a new, application specific web roll coating system designed for use of flexible media for flat panels. The design and manufacture of this equipment will represent a significant advance in FPD technology," stated Richard Roth, president of CHA Industries.

Supertex, Inc. receives a development agreement from USDC to jointly develop two High Voltage Integrated Circuits using Supertex's HVCMOS technology. These products are to be developed and the capacity installed to enable manufacturing at production volumes.

Dr. Henry C. Pao, President/CEO of Supertex said, "We are elated by this award. The continued support from USDC has been instrumental in retaining and fortifying our leadership position in the design and production of high voltage driver ICs for large size flat panel displays for wall mount flat TVs. To optimize our effort and be ready for market demand, we purchased a six inch submicron fab earlier this year."

"USDC's contract with Supertex, Inc. is a continuation of a successful project we have with the company to develop driver ICs for specialized markets served by USDC members," noted Dr. Pinnel. "We are very pleased at the success achieved by Supertex, Inc. to become a supplier to our members companies and this contract will strengthen their product offerings."

The combined awards push USDC's and the US industry's investments in FPD tool and materials projects past $130M. Since 1994, the consortium has initiated over fifty projects on behalf of its sixteen member companies and thirty user group companies. USDC receives financial support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense.

"My sincere congratulations go to CHA Industries and to Supertex, Inc. on these awards from the U.S. Display Consortium. Flat panel displays are now integral components of military systems ranging from fighter aircraft to submarines, and it is important that we continue the development of more advanced and efficient ways of manufacturing them. As a member of the Senate Appropriations committee, I have supported UDSC's efforts toward this goal under the Flat Panel Display Initiative. These awards are particularly encouraging in that they attest to California's leadership in the field of displays and that they are funded through a private/public cost share that maximizes the effect of the federal funding given to DARPA and USDC," stated Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA).

U.S. Display Consortium is an industry-led, public-private partnership providing a common platform for flat-panel display manufacturers, developers, users, and the manufacturing equipment and supplier base. Headquartered in San Jose, CA, the consortium has more than 100 corporate and affiliated members, as well as support from the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). USDC's mission is to establish and enlarge the U.S. supplier infrastructure required to support a world-class, U.S.-based manufacturing capability for high-definition displays.

CHA Industries is headquartered in Fremont, California with sales through domestic and international representatives. CHA is known for the design, production and distribution of a full line of high vacuum deposition systems and associated equipment for precision coating. The company is privately held and has operated for over 50 years. Products include electron beam evaporation systems,sputtering systems and roll (web) coating systems.