Advanced Photonix Buys Silicon Detector Corp.

Silicon Detector Corp., a Camarillo maker of light-sensitive semiconductors, was purchased by Advanced Photonix Inc. for cash and stock valued at more than $1.3 million.

Advanced Photonix, which is also moving its headquarters to Camarillo from Santa Monica, bought SDC from its three owners in separate transactions. Advanced Photonix said its payment to one of the investors could rise, pending an independent appraisal of SDC’s market value.

SDC’s semiconductors are used in such products as laser-guided missiles and medical imaging equipment, in which the semiconductors help sensors convert light to electronic signals. The company, with 60 employees, has annual sales exceeding $4 million, said Advanced Photonix President Thomas Lewis.

Advanced Photonix is developing light-sensitive semiconductors that can be used under much lower light levels than traditional devices, and it bought SDC partly to secure a manufacturing source for its new products, Lewis said.