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.
About Kopin
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. For more information, please visit Kopin's website at www.kopin.com.
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.
Kopin - The NanoSemiconductor Company®