NVE Awarded DoD Contract
to Develop Ultra-Sensitive Spin-Dependent Tunneling
Sensors
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--February 22, 2005--NVE Corporation (NasdaqSC:
NVEC) announced today that it has been awarded a one-year contract
for approximately $400,000 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) to develop ultra-sensitive spin-dependent tunneling
(SDT) sensor systems.
Under the contract, NVE will develop systems to detect very small
magnetic fields. Potential applications include detection of submarines,
homeland security, and compasses for cellphones.
SDT junctions are key spintronics building blocks used in magnetoresistive
random access memory (MRAM), ultra-sensitive sensors, and biomagnetic
sensors. SDT sensors have high sensitivity without the cost, size,
or cooling requirements of conventional magnetometer systems.
Relying on structures as thin as a few atomic layers, SDT junctions
produce a large change in resistance through a normally insulating
layer depending on the spin of the electrons in a sensing layer.
In SDT sensors, an external magnetic field changes the spin of electrons
in the sensing layer, producing a change in junction resistance.
In January 2004 NVE reported it had achieved a record for SDT junction
sensitivity.
"Ultra-sensitive tunnel junctions is one of our strategic
research thrusts," said NVE President and Chief Executive Officer
Daniel A. Baker, Ph.D. "SDT sensors have a number of potential
military, homeland security, and commercial applications, and this
contract will allow us to continue to advance the technology."
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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