NEW YORK, Jan. 10 -- Plasma Physics Corp. and Solar Physics Corp. have filed a patent infringement suit against major electronics companies in Japan and Korea, charging infringement of patents covering production of semiconductor chips, as well as technology used in producing flat-panel computer and television displays. Defendants in the suit include Advanced Display Inc.; Display Technologies Inc.; Fujitsu Ltd.; Hitachi Ltd.; Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.; Mitsubishi Electric Corp.; NEC Corp.; Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd.; Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.; Sharp Corp.; Sony Corp.; and Toshiba Corp. Certain of the companies' US subsidiaries are also named as defendants. The plaintiffs have been attempting to license the patented technology to all defendants; the current lawsuit was filed when negotiations proved unsuccessful.
Two of the three patents cover processes -- used throughout the semiconductor industry -- for manufacturing semiconductor chips using plasma chemical vapor deposition, including the use of a gradient electric field in a reactor and cluster tool reactors for multi-chamber processing. The third patent covers the structure of flat-panel displays known as thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays, which are used to make flat screens for computers and televisions.