Sunovia and EPIR Announce Agreement with the Army Research Laboratory & BAE Systems

SARASOTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: SUNV) and EPIR Technologies, Inc. (EPIR) are pleased to announce the establishment of a joint cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and BAE Systems (BAE).

Sunovia and EPIR have exclusively partnered to commercialize solar and infrared (IR) technologies for the renewable energy and night vision markets. IR and solar technologies are very similar, with IR being a much more precise and complex science. IR devices absorb non-visible light, convert the light to electricity and then ‘pixelize’ the electricity to create an image; while solar devices absorb visible light, convert the light to electricity and then store (or spend) the electricity. EPIR’s superior IR expertise is allowing them to transfer IR technology directly into the development of advanced next generation solar cells. The companies are working to combine numerous IR and solar II-VI material layers in order to achieve maximum light absorption from the different light intensities and different light spectra.

Sunovia is the exclusive marketer of all products, technologies and intellectual properties that are developed by EPIR, and currently owns a significant equity interest in EPIR. EPIR is a world leader in research and development for materials and devices related to IR detection and imaging utilized in night vision, missile tracking, exploration in space and other applications. In particular, EPIR and the Microphysics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago, both under the leadership of Dr. Siva Sivananthan, the president of EPIR, have pioneered the growth of mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) for over 20 years. MCT is the leading material for IR detection and imaging and is one of the most important semiconductors along with silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide in terms of worldwide investment.

The current state-of-the-art MCT materials are typically grown on bulk cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) substrates using a technique called liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). The bulk CdZnTe substrates are very expensive, have limited scalability, and are very fragile. As a result, the overall materials cost becomes expensive and processing yields are low. This also restricts the scalability of the array form factor and creates a technology barrier to the manufacture of wide angle panoramic IR cameras, which are essential for the U.S. night vision surveillance capability.

The CRADA is designed to develop EPIR’s MCT process on more commercially viable and scalable Si substrates. This CRADA resulted from a long-term collaboration between EPIR and ARL under the leadership of Dr. Herbert Pollehn, deputy director of the Army’s Electro-Optics and Photonics Division. Dr. Pollehn said, “EPIR is focused on developing MBE MCT materials technology on Si substrates, and the CRADA offers an opportunity to bring a government laboratory and BAE Systems, a large defense contractor, together with EPIR to develop this scalable and low-cost technology. This technology will enable large format IR focal plane array development, which is necessary for the Army to dominate the night. The CRADA also infuses a synergy to rapidly transition critical technology to the manufacturers and back into the hands of the warfighters.”

The CRADA is to qualify MCT material grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at EPIR for use in the production of IR detectors and read-out integrated circuit chips for IR cameras by BAE Systems. BAE Systems is a supplier of high performance IR detectors and imagers to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security and to civilian customers. Their current IR technology is based on material grown by the conventional LPE technology. Most future high performance IR detectors and imagers will require the precise material control and reproducibility at an atomic level that is offered only by MBE technology.

Specifically, the CRADA is designed to insert test samples of MCT material grown by MBE at EPIR into the production line at BAE Systems and to evaluate and optimize the material and processing, based on device performance results. EPIR will grow and completely characterize and document the material and its growth parameters. ARL will perform any device processing unique to MBE grown material that BAE Systems is not now equipped to do. BAE Systems will insert the material received from ARL into its production line and characterize the performance of the completed devices. Both the growth and the processing will be optimized to obtain maximum device performance and EPIR will develop specifications for its material based on the device characterizations to be performed by BAE Systems. The companies plan to utilize the CRADA to become a major U.S. supplier of MBE grown MCT to BAE Systems for IR detector and focal plane array production and for the ARL processing technology to be transferred to BAE Systems. This will be an important step in Sunovia’s goal of becoming the primary supplier of MCT material to the entire defense industry – a goal which they believe is already well underway.