Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Kopin Receives NASA Award to Develop Nanostructured Indium Gallium Phosphide Solar Cell Technology

Home > Press > Kopin Receives NASA Award to Develop Nanostructured Indium Gallium Phosphide Solar Cell Technology

Abstract:
Company's Proprietary Single-Junction III-V Structures Have the Potential to Achieve Higher Efficiency than Current Multi-junction Solar Cells

Kopin Receives NASA Award to Develop Nanostructured Indium Gallium Phosphide Solar Cell Technology

TAUNTON, MA | Posted on December 12th, 2008

Kopin® Corp. (NASDAQ: KOPN) today announced that it has been selected for award of a $600,000 NASA contract to produce nanostructured solar cells comprised of indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) materials. The goal of this two-year project, a NASA Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, is to develop a solar cell design that is more efficient and less expensive than conventional multi-junction technology.

"The material structures used in conventional solar cell designs significantly limit their power conversion efficiency and performance, requiring a trade-off between current and voltage," said Dr. Roger E. Welser, Kopin's Director of New Product Development. "For this SBIR program, we are employing a proprietary, patent-pending structure incorporating InGaP barriers, the same material used in our HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) wafers for billions of cell phones. In the Phase I program, Kopin produced several InGaP-based test structures that demonstrated a significant increase in the open-circuit voltage without any degradation in current. In this follow-up Phase II program, we aim to further enhance performance while maintaining our long-term objective to produce high-efficiency photovoltaic cells with low cost and good stability."

Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin's President and Chief Executive Officer stated, "This SBIR program is part of Kopin's strategy to leverage our unique expertise in nanostructured III-V materials to create high-efficiency solar cells at low cost for the emerging terrestrial renewable energy market. For unconcentrated sunlight, we believe our innovative approach in this SBIR program has the potential to achieve conversion efficiencies exceeding 40% with a single p-n junction device, approximately 20% higher than the current efficiencies of today's best multi-junction solar cells."

This is the second NASA contract awarded to Kopin in 2008 for the development of nanostructured solar cell technology. In May, the Company received a two-year, $600,000 award for the development of indium nitride (InN)-based solar cells. This project is focused on producing high-efficiency solar cells that are resistant to extreme conditions such as those found near the sun.

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About Kopin® Corp.
Kopin Corporation produces lightweight, power-efficient, ultra-small liquid crystal displays and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) that are revolutionizing the way people around the world see, hear and communicate. Kopin has shipped more than 30 million displays for a range of consumer and military applications including digital cameras, personal video eyewear, camcorders, thermal weapon sights and night vision systems. The Company's unique HBTs, which help to enhance battery life, talk time and signal clarity, have been integrated into billions of wireless handsets as well as into WiFi, VoIP and high-speed Internet data transmission systems. Kopin's proprietary display and HBT technologies are protected by more than 200 global patents and patents pending.

Kopin and The NanoSemiconductor Company are trademarks of Kopin Corporation.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this news release about the award of a NASA solar cell development contract to Kopin may be considered "forward-looking" under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements relating to the potential performance of indium gallium phosphide-based and indium nitride-based nanostructured solar cells; the potential to create high-efficiency solar cells at low cost for the emerging terrestrial renewable energy market; and the potential to achieve conversion efficiencies exceeding 40% with a single p-n junction device. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might affect the actual results, performance or achievements include, among other things, negotiation with NASA to complete the contract award; technical, manufacturing or other issues that may prevent the indium gallium phosphide-based and indium nitride-based solar cells from achieving the desired performance; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 29, 2007, and the Company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no responsibility to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstance occurring after the date of this report.

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Kopin Corporation
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