Intevac’s oDLC® to Begin Shipping on Top 3 Cellphone Maker’s Flagship Smartphone

Wed, March 28 2018

Scratch-Resistant Coating to Protect Selected Decorative Back Cover Glass Options

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intevac, Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC), a leading supplier of thin-film processing systems, today formally announced that its market-leading thin-film technology, oDLC^® (optical Diamond-Like-Carbon), is being applied to protect selected decorative back cover glass options for the recently-launched flagship smartphone of a Top 3 Cellphone maker. oDLC is an optically-transparent, protective thin-film coating, which provides significant improvements in the scratch and wear resistance of display cover panels and film coating stacks on the surfaces of all types of mobile electronic devices, as well as point-of-sale and automotive infotainment systems.

Backside cover glass for mobile phones is a recent phenomenon that is addressing a rapidly-growing portion of the high-end smartphone market. While most early adopters of backside cover glass have opted to achieve color variations by coating the inside of the glass, the flagship smartphone launched this week is the first major phone to have decorative back cover glass options where the colors are deposited on the outside of the glass, making them exceptionally vibrant and striking. Intevac’s oDLC protects these decorative coatings from scratches and wear arising out of daily use.

Truly Opto-electronics (Shanwei City, China), a major supplier of cover glass and touch panel technologies to mobile electronics manufacturers and owner of multiple INTEVAC VERTEX^® systems, went through an intensive testing process lasting several months to ensure that oDLC met the stringent specifications laid out by the technical team at the Top 3 Cellphone maker.

“Truly Opto-electronics’ Engineering team thoroughly qualified Intevac's oDLC protective coating technology with the decorative coating on the backside glass that went into this flagship smartphone from a Top 3 Cellphone maker. This production order is a significant validation of our coating capabilities meeting top-tier customer requirements,” commented Mr. Li, Managing Director of Truly Opto-electronics. “We believe that oDLC offers superior film protection at a low cost to customers. We are working with other customers on positioning oDLC for several different production applications.”

“Intevac is excited about our strong partnership with Truly, which has led to the adoption of oDLC by a leading cellphone maker on their flagship smartphone, and we look forward to leveraging this design win to drive adoption of oDLC at multiple mobile phone customers across a range of applications," added Jay Cho, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intevac’s Thin-Film Equipment business.

The thin-film equipment that enables the oDLC solution is the INTEVAC VERTEX multi-stage physical vapor deposition (PVD) system. The VERTEX PVD system deposits the oDLC thin-film coating vertically and at the low process temperatures required for display cover panel processing. The VERTEX is an optimal production solution for small individualized substrates, achieving the highest level of throughput at the lowest possible cost.

About Intevac

Intevac was founded in 1991 and has two businesses: Thin-film Equipment and Photonics.

In our Thin-film Equipment business, we are a leader in the design and development of high-productivity, thin-film processing systems. Our production-proven platforms are designed for high-volume manufacturing of substrates with precise thin film properties, such as the hard drive media, display cover panel, and solar photovoltaic markets we serve currently.

In our Photonics business, we are a recognized leading developer of advanced high-sensitivity digital sensors, cameras and systems that primarily serve the defense industry. We are the provider of integrated digital imaging systems for most U.S. military night vision programs.

For more information call 408-986-9888, or visit the Company's website at www.intevac.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180328005418/en/

Intevac, Inc.
James Moniz, 408-986-9888
Chief Financial Officer
or
Claire McAdams, 530-265-9899
Investor Relations

Source: Intevac, Inc.