OPEL heralds independent validation of critical component of POET semiconductor platform by BAE Systems

SHELTON, USA & TORONTO, CANADA: OPEL Solar International Inc. and ODIS Inc. (OPEL Defense Integrated Systems), announced that a key element of the Planar Optoelectronic Technology semiconductor platform developed by ODIS Inc., its wholly-owned US affiliate company, has been successfully validated by a third party, BAE Systems Electronic Solutions, culminating in successful fabrication of operational transistor devices.

POET enables monolithic fabrication of IC gallium arsenide devices containing both electronic and optical elements on a single wafer. Perfected over 18 years by Chief Scientist Dr. Geoff Taylor and his ODIS team, POET is protected by numerous patents and patents pending. Offering devices with dramatically lower costs, increased speed, density, and reliability, POET could potentially impact a broad range of mobile and server applications.

BAE Systems entered into a contract with ODIS in 2008, with the intent of replicating specific POET devices in a third-party environment at BAE Systems Reed Microelectronics Center. Over this period, with indirect overview by ODIS staff, BAE Systems engineers methodically tested and confirmed critical electrical elements of POET sub-process steps for the transistors. In the near future, it is intended that these electrical structures will be integrated with the required optical structures.

"We are thrilled that a company with the technical stature of BAE Systems has validated key elements of the outstanding work done by Dr. Taylor and his team," noted Leon M. Pierhal, CEO of OPEL. "With this first independently-manufactured transistor, we have achieved a milestone to the industry's long-held vision of monolithically fusing photonics and electronics."

With an accelerated technical and commercialization roadmap, OPEL is actively addressing future arrangements with device manufacturers, where its platform could be optimized to address device applications based on POET's unique disruptive technology. Today's announcement of a key electronic process validation by BAE Systems brings OPEL a step closer to fully realizing the value of the POET process.