(Rochester, N.Y., December 18, 2000) – Navitar Coating Labs, Inc. (formerly GM Vacuum Coating) has expanded its line of solderable coatings for glass and ceramic substrates to include micro-thin coatings, company officials have announced.

The product line now includes coatings as thin as 0.30 microns.  Applications include use in missiles, fiber optics, aerospace and passive IR detectors.  The coatings are ideal for the hermetic sealing of optical systems.

For many industrial and military applications, the ability to permanently solder a piece of glass or other substrates into a metal package is very important.  Since glass material is not solderable in its normal state, a special coating is applied to the exterior edge by Navitar Coating Labs.  The glass can then be soldered using conventional soldering techniques.

Navitar’s coating is applied using a special low-stress, sputtered process so that it is extremely durable.  Its strength exceeds that of the glass substrate.  As proof of the coating’s tensility, samples of two wires soldered to a piece of glass are available to customers.

Unlike other coating companies, Navitar’s solderable coating can be applied to parts of varying size and shape, including small round flat parts.  Substrates include glass (most types), germanium, silicon, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, sapphire, magnesium fluoride and many others.

A subsidiary of Navitar, Inc., Navitar Coating Labs is a “boutique” coating company.  In addition to its solderable coating line, it produces colored and textured dichroic art glass for the art industry, and gold coatings for the telecommunications industry.

The Navitar group of companies consists of the parent company, Navitar, Inc., with headquarters located in Rochester, N.Y. and a facility in Miami Beach, Fla.; and Navitar Coating Labs, Inc., located in Newport Beach, Calif.