NVE Awarded DoD Contract
to Develop Next-Generation Tunnel Junctions
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--January 26, 2005--NVE Corporation (NasdaqSC:
NVEC) announced today that it has been awarded a contract for
approximately $520,000 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) to develop next-generation spin-dependent tunneling
(SDT) junctions.
The two-year contract was awarded under DARPA's Small Business
Technology Transfer Research (STTR) program, which funds cooperative
projects between businesses and research institutions. Under the
contract, NVE will optimize and demonstrate high-sensitivity SDT
junction designs using computerized nanostructure characterizations
and atomic simulations to be developed by the University of Virginia
and Oxford University (England).
SDT junctions are key spintronics building blocks used in magnetoresistive
random access memory (MRAM), ultra-sensitive sensors, and biomagnetic
sensors.
SDT junctions produce a large change in resistance through a normally
insulating layer, depending on the predominant electron spin in
a data storage layer. This allows electron spin to be sensed as
electrical resistance. SDT junctions rely on structures as thin
as a few atomic layers.
In January 2004 NVE reported it had achieved a record for SDT junction
sensitivity, which is measured as tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR).
TMR is the change in junction resistance between two stable states.
"Better SDT junctions will mean faster, cheaper MRAM, driving more
widespread MRAM adoption," said NVE President and Chief Executive
Officer Daniel A. Baker, Ph.D. "This contract utilizes some of the
world's finest nanostructure modeling expertise to help us continue
our leadership in spintronics."
NVE's technology is protected by more than 100 patents worldwide
either issued, pending or licensed from others. The company has
approximately 18 patents related to MRAM, some with dozens of claims.
NVE is a leader in the practical commercialization of spintronics,
a nanotechnology that many experts believe represents the next generation
of microelectronics. NVE licenses its MRAM intellectual property
and sells spintronic products, including sensors and couplers, to
revolutionize data sensing and transmission.
Statements used in this press release that relate to future
plans, events, financial results or performance are forward-looking
statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties including,
among others, such factors as uncertainties related to the awarding
of future government contracts, risks associated with our reliance
on several large customers, as well as the risk factors listed from
time to time in our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report
on Form 10-KSB and other reports filed with the SEC.
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