Our Name and History  I  TWO SIX
The Roman numerals “II-VI” refers to group II and group VI of the Periodic Table of Elements. By chemically combining elements from these groups, II-VI produced the infrared optical crystalline compounds: Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Zinc Selenide (ZnSe), Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) and Zinc Sulfide MultiSpectral (ZnS MS). These compounds and others created from group II and group VI elements are commonly referred to as “II-VI Materials”. Founded in 1971 to create CdTe, company co-founder Dr. Carl J. Johnson paid homage to our II-VI Materials heritage by calling our new company “II-VI Incorporated”.