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February 23, 1999

EPITAXIAL TECHNOLOGIES LANDS SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH CONTRACT FOR COMMERCIAL AND MILITARY SENSORS

BALTIMORE - Epitaxial Technologies, LLC, announced today that it has been awarded a $744,272 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for further development of its proprietary sensing and imaging technology for commercial and military applications.

The contract, sponsored by the Department of Defense's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, builds on the two-year-old firm's multi-wavelength detector array technology.

According to Epitaxial Technologies President Dr. Leye Aina, the contract will result in better night vision and sensing technology for military aircraft, space exploration, missile defense systems and law enforcement use. The specific goal of the award is to develop compound semiconductor material structures and chips that enable the production of detector arrays capable of responding to radiation from UV to the infrared.

Epitaxial Technologies will produce the first integrated, three-color sensor that can see not only in the dark but also into the infrared spectrum and beyond. No material technology currently exists for implementing multi-wavelength sensors such as three-color detectors on the same focal plane array chip. In addition, the contract will produce compact, high performance spectrometers, radiometers and all-weather, all-condition cameras.

Epitaxial Technologies' chip making process produces cheaper, faster and smaller chips than existing methods. "With our process, one chip replaces two to four chips," said Aina. He said the SBIR contract is the second phase of an ongoing project, with commercialization of the technology set for phase three.

Located in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Technology Center, Epitaxial Technologies was recently recognized with the "Microenterprise Client of the Year" Award by the National Business Incubator Association.

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Posted by dwinds1 at February 23, 1999 12:00 AM