Technology: Laser Makers Cymer, JMAR Concentrate On Microchip Etching
Smaller dimensions and higher wavelengths are big deals to San Diego area laser-makers, as they work to help their chip-making clients pack more into semiconductors.
San Diego-based Cymer, Inc. celebrated a milestone early this month by shipping off laser No. 2,000.
Meanwhile, Carlsbad-based Jmar Technologies, Inc. announced it had licensed a university’s promising technology for advanced light sources.
More recently, Jmar issued a statement saying it expects more defense dollars with the war on terrorism. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded Jmar’s work on an X-ray lithography system to make advanced chips from gallium arsenide.
Both Cymer and Jmar are publicly traded companies working to please investors.
Cymer will report third quarter earnings on Oct. 23. As early as Sept. 6 it said it expected a loss for the quarter. Its stock was trading at $17.50 per share on Oct. 17.
By contrast, Jmar stock closed at $2.10 per share Oct. 17. It hit a 52-week low of $1.75 per share Sept. 26.
Both companies deal in lithography equipment. They make tools that harness deep ultraviolet, extreme ultraviolet or X-ray light to etch raw material like silicon and gallium arsenide into chips.
Jmar also works in a wider range of technologies. It makes precision measurement devices and equipment for handling small electronic parts, as well as integrated circuits for broadband communications. However, as a “fabless” supplier, it contracts out the actual production.
Jmar’s September announcement was that it licensed technology from the University of Central Florida in Orlando , a campus with a strong school of optics.
The technology in question will convert x-ray light from Jmar’s “Britelight” chip-etching system into extreme ultraviolet radiation.
Extreme ultraviolet light is “one of the leading alternative technologies for powering the next generation lithography tools,” said a statement from the company.
“Such tools will be required for high-volume production of the minute microcircuits needed for future ultra-high performance microelectric products,” the statement said.
In the same statement, company officials said they are seeking money to continue that work.
Jmar employs 150, with about 40 in the San Diego area. Cymer, meanwhile, threw a party Oct. 5 to celebrate the shipment of its 2,000th excimer light source for deep ultraviolet lithography. The company declined to name the recipient.
Like Jmar, Cymer emphasizes its ability to help clients pack more circuitry into chips.
Cymer employs 870 people worldwide; some 620 are at its Rancho Bernardo headquarters.
Cymer’s third quarter revenues, due out soon, would likely fall off 24 to 26 percent from second quarter revenues of $70.4 million, Chairman and CEO Bob Akins predicted in his Sept. 6 statement.
Cymer had income of $4.8 million on that $70.4 million in revenues during the quarter that ended in June. That compares to $15.2 million of income on revenues of $86.3 million during the same quarter of 2000.
In the third quarter of 2000, Cymer reported $18.1 million in income on $98.4 million worth of revenues.
The company will offer guidance on fourth quarter performance this week.
Jmar will report quarterly earnings in November. It has not offered guidance on its earnings.
Jmar reported a net loss of $477,546 on sales of $3.3 million during the quarter ended June 30. That compares to a loss of $198,030 on sales of $5.2 million during the same quarter in 2000.
