VANCOUVER, Sept. 4, 2018 /CNW/ - Zecotek Photonics Inc.
("Zecotek" or the "Company") (TSX-V: ZMS) (Frankfurt: W1I) (OTCPK:
ZMSPF), a developer of leading-edge photonics technologies for
healthcare, industrial and scientific markets, is pleased
to provide an update to the corporate activities undertaken by the
Company in China, following the
successful opening of its LFS Crystal Production Facility in
Shanghai. As expected the strategy
of opening a crystal production facility has generated business and
renewed interest from existing and new customers.
"Our new crystal growing facility in Shanghai, is a game changer for Zecotek
Imaging as we now have full control of the production of our
patented LFS scintillation crystals," said Dr. A.F. Zerrouk,
Chairman, President, and CEO of Zecotek Photonics Inc.
"During the month of July and at the official opening ceremony,
several of our customers inspected the premises and were impressed
by the new facility and the lab installation of crystal growing
ovens. The recent shift in intellectual property rights by the
healthcare industry presented an opportunity for Zecotek to open
its own crystal production facility. By doing so, not only are we
experiencing renewed interests from existing partners like EBO
Optoelectronics and Hamamatsu Photonics, but we have also had new
customers making significant orders and new investors investing at
the divisional level. This is a very exciting time for our
Company."
In late 2017 and early 2018, the medical scanning industry
responded to recent patent litigation over scintillation crystals
and other technologies incorporated into new high resolution
medical scanning devices. With intellectual property rights being
enforced around the world, including China, many PET OEMs are demanding that
suppliers which produce a strategic product, own the underlying
patent.
Due to the opening of the new LFS Crystal Production Facility in
Shanghai, Zecotek is experiencing
renewed interest in its patented LFS scintillation crystal from new
and old customers. Zecotek Imaging China Ltd. is currently
working with long standing customers including the EBO
Optoelectronics Technology Company (EBO) and Hamamatsu Photonics to
resume deliveries of Zecotek's patented LFS scintillation crystals.
Recently announced LFS crystal orders are being processed using
crystals from the Company's current inventory. Additional boules
are grown in the new production facility in accordance with
provincial environmental guidelines.
The new production strategy is attracting local investor
interest. Earlier this year Zecotek sold equity interest
in Zecotek Imaging China Ltd. for proceeds
of $5 million, based on a value
of Zecotek's patented LFS scintillation crystal
technology of approximately $75 million. In
July the same group of local Chinese investors paid
$2 million to acquire a 2% interest in
Zecotek Imaging Systems Pte. Ltd. based solely
on the appraised pre-commercialized value of approximately
$100 million. Ongoing
discussions are taking place, based on offers for substantial
government incentives for production facility expansion to
manufacture all variants of LFS as well as different
configurations, such as single crystal elements, different size
arrays and assembly to corresponding electronics.
Zecotek Imaging China, a subsidiary of Zecotek Imaging Systems
(Singapore), is commercializing
patented LFS scintillation crystals through its new crystal
production facility in Shanghai,
China. Zecotek Imaging China is poised to become a
leader in large-scale production, cutting and polishing of
scintillation crystals grown by the Czochralski method in
China. Using a proprietary manufacturing process, very
large-diameter boules with uniform properties and without cracks
are produced resulting in high element output with lower unit
costs.
The ISO certified LFS Crystal Production Facility has sufficient
capacity to meet the delivery schedule of our Tier 1 clients and
will be expanded to meet growing demand in late 2018 and early
2019.
Zecotek's patented LFS scintillation crystals are grown using
the Czochralski method with internal modifications. This
proprietary growing method produces very large-diameter boules with
uniform properties and without cracking (a problem with many
competing scintillation materials). This highly efficient method
produces a great number of high quality elements from each boule.
Larger, higher quality boules, produce more single elements
resulting in greater output and lower unit costs.
Cutting, polishing and array assembly will also be done at the
production facility in Shanghai.
Zecotek has developed a proprietary automated manufacturing process
that uses robotics to assemble the LFS crystal arrays. The
automated process will translate into faster manufacturing of
arrays and improve the performance of the arrays with repeatable
uniformity and much greater accuracy.
Zecotek's LFS series of scintillation crystals are protected in
China and jurisdictions around
globe by a worldwide patent (including US patent No. 7,132,060).
The crystals cover a wide range of emission wavelengths which can
be tailored to match the spectral sensitivity of various photo
detectors including Zecotek's own solid-state MAPD/T photo detector
arrays.
Zecotek is focused on of becoming a leading supplier of
scintillation crystals and other key photonic components in
China and around the world.
About Zecotek
Zecotek Photonics Inc. (TSX-V: ZMS) (Frankfurt: W1I) (OTCPK:
ZMSPF) is a photonics technology company developing
high-performance scintillation crystals, solid-state photo
detectors, 3D displays and related technologies for applications in
medical, high-tech and industrial sectors. Founded in 2004, Zecotek
has three operating divisions: Zecotek Imaging Systems, Zecotek
Optronics Systems, and Zecotek Autotronics with labs located in
Canada, Korea, Russia, Singapore and U.S.A. It is commercializing over 55 patented
and patent pending novel photonic technologies directly and through
strategic alliances with the Shanghai EBO Optoelectronics
Technology Company (China),
Hamamatsu Photonics (Japan), the
European Organization for Nuclear Research (Switzerland), NuCare Medical Systems
(South Korea), the University of Washington (United States), and National NanoFab Center
(South Korea). For more
information visit http://www.zecotek.com and follow
@zecotek on Twitter.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements
that are based on management's expectations,
estimates, projections and assumptions. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and
uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual
future results and trends may differ materially from what may have
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SOURCE Zecotek Photonics Inc
