SSL enables microchip manufacturers improve their use of plasma technology and reduce their costs in the process.

The name Scientific Systems (SSL) is one you're likely to hear a lot more of in the future. With significant sales in the US, Europe and the Far East, a major investment drive underway and a clientele list that includes Siemens, Lucent Technologies, IBM and Hitachi; SSL looks set to become a leading light in the hi-tech sector. The company operates in the semiconductor equipment market, a sector whose growth is expected to escalate within the next few years.

SSL began life four years ago as a DCU campus company. Its president, Michael Hopkins was, until recently, head of the University's Plasma Research Laboratory. "A former student working in the semiconductor industry in Japan contacted me about four years ago alerting me to a growing business opportunity. Numerous companies associated with his business were getting involved with plasma diagnostics for the process sector." Making silicon chips for semiconductors involves a complex series of metal layers and interconnecting wires. The cutting and laying methods rely on a plasma process. "Plasma is useful because the cutting, to make tracks for the wiring, is a chemical process. Any chemical process normally runs faster if the gas is heated. The plasma creates an electrical current which makes the gas appear very hot. It makes it much easier to cut the metal accurately and is really the only way to do it these days," Hopkins explains.

The use of plasma instrumentation is widespread, especially in the chemical, pharmaceutical and engineering industries; for example, it is used in fluorescent lighting, medical implants and engine design. The technology's value to the semiconductor industry is its potential to save on costs for microchip manufacturers by dramatically reducing the number of defective chips produced.

The business opportunity, which former student Ciaran O'Morain identified, was to manufacture sensors for plasma process equipment aimed at the semiconductor industry. The sensor is a device which provides the process with control, something Hopkins says did not previously exist. The market for such a product is currently worth around E34.3bn (£27bn) worldwide. "Ciaran saw the business opportunity and I had the technical expertise.," says Hopkins. "Every few years an industry research forum in the US produces a sort of roadmap for the industry for the following 20 years, detailing where its headed and what new technology is required and how technology should be advanced and the cost of silicon chips reduced. On the basis of its last plan, it was clear that by 2002 sensors on machines would be required to make the process more tightly controlled. Now, a lot of these sensors didn't exist. That's where we saw the opportunity," says Hopkins. "Working in basic research you're always five to ten years ahead of the industry because it tends to rely on well-established technology, whereas you're always looking to new developments which take time to come to fruition," he says.

While the sensor products are still in production, the company is selling various plasma-related instruments for R&D purposes to microchip manufacturers. Revenue is re-invested in the company's own development.

"With the same companies availing of each product type, the hope is that we can further down the line go to, say, IBM's production staff with our sensor product armed with a good reference from IBM's R&D department," says Hopkins.

The company has just entered a phase of expansion which will see its current staff of four grow to 25 by the end of the year, and to 40 over the next three years. Its E2.3 (£1.6m) investment programme is supported by Enterprise Ireland and ACT Enterprise Fund, which has bought a 25% equity stake in the company.

"Finding a niche is vital," explains Hopkins. "Being a small company, you can't hope to dominate your field any other way. There's no point in being a 1% player in a global market. The key is to select an industry that is innovative and an area within it with strong growth potential. One that's not too well developed and where the bigger names haven't shown much interest in as yet. This niche is going to explode and we're on the cusp of something huge - something that will be part of every computer within five years. That's what I call massive growth," says Hopkins.

From a one-office operation on a six figure turnover, Hopkins sees SSL opening US offices and reaching a turnover of around £10m within three years.

He feels the semiconductor industry has reached a turning point. Many small companies have now developed enough technology for the bigger corporations to take notice. "After that it can go one of two ways. You can either stay independent and manage your growth well or get taken over. Either way it's not a bad outcome," he says.

Reference and source Business and Finance