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Been reading about this company Atomera. Recent ipo that has declined 20%. No sales. Developing an oxygen layer on wafer tech.
"Heading up this effort to extend Moore’s Law is Robert Mears, one of the inventors of Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA), a critical method of amplifying optical signals in fiber optic arrays without first converting those signals back into electricity. Atomera’s invention, if successful, could significantly impact the future of computing by offering real improvements to various manufacturers without requiring them to move to smaller process nodes."
Their stock price is about 50% off the high, so that's always a bad sign, plus it's been a straight downward slope for months now.
It's simple, you have to show revenues and name customers, or else the market discounts you as still being stuck in Research instead of being used in volume manufacturing.
They just replaced their VP of Sales on January 18th, which could be another sign of desperation. They report losses every quarter, so it appears that they went public way too early, just my guess.
Atomera is working with a very small, specialty foundry named TSI Semi out of Roseville, CA.
For Atomera to be truly successful you need to read a press release where they actually name their customers or licensees. If they land anyone in the top 10 of the semi industry, that speaks volumes of their acceptance. Until then, it is a niche research company that went IPO a few years too early.
I've just had a look at their research/ publications. Their technology is very interesting, and is not something I've come across before.
Sections of Oxygen monolayer are inserted into the MOSFET channel region, in between the silicon atoms of the lattice. This results in a redistribution of carriers in the inversion layer sub-bands, enhancing mobility and, hence, drive current.
Another proposed benefit is that dopant atoms segregate and pile-up near to the Oxygen-Inserted interstitials, forming a desirable retrograde doping profile.
I like their ideas and research, no real idea how well it maps to volume production, or what the difficulties are.
Thanks. The key analysis is really whether the fabs will sign on before they run out of cash. I guess it's more of a material science question. I would be interested to check it out as a layman.
