Kopin Corp. (NASDAQ: KOPN), a provider of heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers for cellular phones and wireless local area networks, announced that it has been selected for the award of a $600,000 solar cell development contract from NASA.
The contract is the second phase of a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to develop indium nitride (InN)-based quantum dot solar cell technology. Kopin’s partners on this NASA STTR project include groups at Virginia Tech and Magnolia Optical Technologies.
"The goal of this STTR program is to develop high-efficiency solar cells that are resistant to extreme conditions while achieving high solar electric power conversion efficiency," said Dr. Roger Welser, Kopin’s Director of Technology and New Product Development. "This technology will enable photovoltaic power systems of future NASA space exploration missions to operate in extreme environments with high temperature and radiation exposures."
Quantum-dot nanostructures allow the spectral response and operating voltage of a solar cell to be tailored in ways that are not possible with bulk semiconductor materials.
Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin President and CEO said, "Kopin is currently exploring a number of options for synthesizing high-performance photovoltaic materials. Ultimately our approaches can provide pathways for realizing solar cells with power conversion efficiency approaching 60%, well beyond the current state-of-the-art efficiency of 40%."
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