Kopin Announces Joint Development Agreement with Rockwell Science Center to Develop InP HBTs for Ultra-High-Speed Circuits

Source: Kopin

Combination of Kopin s InP HBTs and Rockwell Science Center s expertise in HBT devices and circuits to accelerate InP HBTs into commercial markets

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN), the leading provider of heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) for wireless and fiber-optic telecom applications, announced that today it has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Rockwell Science Center (RSC) of Thousand Oaks, California, a leader in the development of ultra-high-speed device and circuit technologies and advanced HBT technologies. The purpose of the agreement is to accelerate the development of indium phosphide (InP)-based HBTs for commercial applications. The agreement calls for Kopin to develop InP-based HBT structures and for RSC to create processing technologies for devices and circuits as well as to establish the long-term reliability of InP HBTs.

"Rockwell Science Center pioneered the development of HBT technology, and we are very pleased to partner with this distinguished organization," said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin s president and chief executive officer. "RSC combines an excellent team of R&D scientists and engineers with world-class expertise in high-speed devices and circuits. Several years ago, Kopin and Rockwell co-developed commercial GaAs-based HBT power amplifiers for wireless phones. We are delighted to combine forces again as we focus on accelerating the introduction of InP HBTs into the commercial marketplace. This agreement comes only a month after our introduction of carbon-doped InP HBTs for use in wireless and high-speed optical communication. Our partnership with RSC will provide rapid advances in the fundamental material and device technologies, while Kopin will continue to work with its customers on commercial applications."

Compared to GaAs-based HBTs, InP-based HBTs demonstrate superior speed, lower operating voltage, higher power efficiency and better thermal properties. Kopin has been growing carbon-doped InP-based HBTs with excellent performance using its proprietary and patent-pending process in production organometallic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD) systems. This breakthrough should enable a new generation of high-performance, reliable, cost-effective InP-based HBT circuits for a variety of exciting applications, including 40 gigabit per second (Gb/s) fiber-optic circuits (OC-768) and efficient power amplifiers for third generation wireless phones.

"InP-based HBTs are becoming the most exciting frontier for ultra-high-speed circuits," said RSC Director Dr. Derek Cheung, one of the world s foremost experts in high-speed devices and circuits. "Kopin s success in incorporating active carbon doping in InP-based HBTs by OMCVD is a very important advance, especially in view of the fact that Kopin is already the proven leader in commercial production of GaAs-based HBTs. Our two teams have worked successfully on GaAs-based HBTs, and we are now combining our resources to move InP-based HBTs into commercial readiness within a year."

About Rockwell Science Center

Rockwell Science Center (RSC) is a leader in a broad range of technologies including materials, electronics, imaging, optics, information and computation. Its mission is to create innovative technologies and deliver the winning technical edge with its partners. The principal location is in Thousand Oaks, California and the second site at Palo Alto, California, with a total staff of more than 420 including 160 Ph.Ds. RSC pioneered the development of GaAs HBT technologies. RSC s Web site is located at www.rsc.rockwell.com.

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading manufacturer of GaAs-based transistor products and miniature flat panel displays for advanced communications and digital imaging applications. The Company s GaAs-based HBT transistors are used to produce power amplifier circuits for CDMA, GSM, TDMA and PCS wireless telephone handsets as well as multi-gigabit/second circuits for fiber optic and Internet data transmission. Kopin s CyberDisplay family of ultra-small, high-density imaging devices is designed for portable communications and consumer products including camcorders and digital cameras and wireless Internet appliances. Kopin s Web site is located at www.kopin.com.

CyberDisplay is a trademark of Kopin.

Statements in this news release about Kopin Corporation s Joint Development Agreement with Rockwell Science Center are made under "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect future results. Among these risk factors are general economic and business conditions and growth in the GaAs and InP integrated circuit and materials industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing, availability of integrated circuit fabrication facilities, the Company s ability to successfully expand its production facilities, cost and yields of HBT transistor wafers, loss of significant customers, acceptance of the Company s products, continuation of strategic relationships, and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed from time to time in the Company s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, the Company s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2000.

Contact: Kopin Corporation Matthew Micci Richard Sneider Tel: (508) 824-6696 mmicci@kopin.com rsneider@kopin.com or Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc. Scott Solomon Tel: (617) 542-5300 ssolomon@investorrelations.com