TAUNTON, Mass., July 30 -- Kopin Corp. has harnessed nanotechnology to produce blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) smaller than a grain of sand that are ultraefficient, solid-state light sources, the company announced. The process is described in the July 29 Applied Physics Letters. Using a patent-pending process that creates "NanoPockets," Kopin has produced blue LED chips that are as bright as but use much less voltage than LEDs now on the market. Kopin's new CyberLite blue LED chips require less than 2.9 volts of electricity (for 20 milliamperes of current) -- significantly lower than 3.3 volts for commercially available LEDs -- yet have 100-millicandela brightness. "Getting below three volts has been a scientific hurdle for nearly a decade," said Kopin founder and chairman John C.C. Fan. "It took a new way of thinking to overcome this challenge. With further development, we can approach the holy grail of using these solid-state sources for general lighting."