Spire Wins NASA Contract for Advanced Photodiodes

BEDFORD, Mass., Oct. 21 -- Spire Corp. has won a contract valued at $600,000 to develop high-speed, advanced photodetectors for next-generation fiber optic communications systems for NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center. Spire reported that its optoelectronics division plans to use the company's proprietary metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process to develop high-speed avalanche photodiodes using indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and aluminum gallium antimonide (AlGaSb).
Previously Spire had announced that it had signed a letter of intent to sell selected assets and technological innovations of its Optoelectronics Div. to Chicago-based Methode Electronics Inc. Under the terms of that agreement, Methode Electronics would serve as the conduit for the commercialization of the technology developed under the NASA contract.