History

Phiar was founded in Boulder, Colorado on July 2, 2001. The basis of Phiar’s technology was developed at the University of Colorado by Garret Moddel and Blake Eliasson. (Phiar has exclusive rights to the relevant CU intellectual property.)

Over 20 years ago Garret began to investigate the concept of using a tunneling device having two dissimilar metals (separated by an insulator) as a solar cell.

Garret had jumped at an opportunity to investigate metal-insulator devices in the late 90's when he was awarded a DARPA sub-contract to build and test metal-insulator diodes for solar cells. He enlisted the help of Blake Eliasson, then his PhD student.

The team ran into a challenge: single-insulator diodes were not efficient enough. Blake had a novel solution. His idea became a major part of his PhD thesis and a key concept behind Phiar’s technology: Two insulators (rather than one), can be engineered to form a quantum well in the middle of the device, greatly enhancing performance. Attorney Steve Shear, Garret and Blake decided to start a company to explore the breakthrough.

After many months of negotiations with CU, Garret simultaneously inked deals with Menlo Ventures and CU’s Technology Transfer Office.

For four years, Garret successfully led a small group of talented engineers as Phiar’s CEO. During his tenure, Phiar grew from 3 to 10 employees and raised $9.3 million in venture capital to fund the development of reliable, high performance metal-insulator-insulator-metal (MIIM) diodes.

In May, 2005, Garret stepped aside as CEO. In Bob Goodman, the company has found a proven leader capable of managing the next stages of the company’s growth. Garret’s focus has returned to technology: He serves as Phiar’s Chairman and CTO.

To date, Bob has successfully negotiated the Joint Development Agreement (J.D.A.) and Intellectual Property Agreement (I.P.A.) with Motorola, moved the company to a 10,000 sq. ft. fabrication and testing facility in Boulder, Colorado, and continues to strengthen the team with top talent.

Phiar continues to meet its internal and J.D.A. milestones, and expects to have its diodes and detectors in production in 2008.

Phiar is actively seeking additional development partners and anticipates raising a Series-B round of venture financing in the first quarter of 2008.