An investment and product development initiative has been announced between Photronics Inc. and Silicon Values BG Partners.

BG Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund, will support Photronics, a photomask manufacturer, to adapt Photronics’ novel glass structuring platform technology for use in thermal energy capture and processing applications.

“We are pleased with the support being provided by BG Partners to further the development of our glass patterning platform within adjacent, high-value application spaces,” said Dr. Christopher Progler, Photronics chief technology officer. “While we remain intensely focused on our core businesses, successful demonstration here would be a significant step forward in addressing industry needs for large-area, low-cost thermal processing solutions.”

The product development initiative supports technology design refinements and working prototype demonstrations along with assessment of commercial viability and product scale-up potential. Investigations will be performed by Photronics’ technical personnel in Allen, Texas, in collaboration with university and supplier partners.

“We are very interested in ways that the Photronics glass platform might be deployed for new, high-impact applications,” said Dr. Victor V. Boksha, BG Partners managing director. “While the announced investment is a key short-term focus for us, it also highlights our longer term strategy of investing in relationships and technologies that can evolve into a broad-spectrum product incubation platform.”

For more information, visit: www.photronics.com or www.sivpartners.com