OYAMA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gigaphoton Inc. (Head Office: Oyama, Tochigi President & CEO: Hitoshi Tomaruwww.gigaphoton.com), a leading manufacturer of light sources used in lithography, has announced a new roadmap for green innovation that reduces environmental impact for customers. Drawing on its wealth of experience gained through pursuing its roadmap since 2003, Gigaphoton plans to continue turning the goal of utility cost reductions into reality.
Gigaphoton has taken the initiative to proactively provide green innovation technologies in line with its EcoPhoton* program in an effort to address the global concerns of recent years, some of which include the decline in neon and helium gas supplies and ensuing sharp rise in their prices, as well as the dramatic rise in energy use on a global scale. In 2013, the company developed technology to reduce helium gas consumption by 99%1 by replacing the helium gas with nitrogen. This was followed by the company developing eTGM in 2014, a technology which made it possible to reduce neon gas consumption by up to 50%2. Next, the company's eGRYCOS technology, released in 2015, made it possible to reduce electricity consumption by 15%3 without compromising laser performance by improving the efficiency of laser discharge by 20%.
The new roadmap being announced at this time will further accelerate the evolution of such products. The company has developed a neon gas recycling system that removes impurities from the gas and recycles it to a purity level equivalent to the fresh gas supplied from cylinders. This has made it possible to achieve neon gas consumption to as close as possible to zero. As for helium gas, the company has also developed technologies that maintain higher reliability without sacrificing any optical properties by replacing the helium with nitrogen. The company is also dedicated to developing technologies that will reduce electricity consumption by a half by 2020 while simultaneously pursuing its goal to improve laser output, which is demanded in cutting-edge lithography processes.
Hitoshi Tomaru, President & CEO of Gigaphoton says, “We are carrying out our initiatives with green innovation as one of our highest priorities, which is the driving force behind realizing environmentally-friendly green factories—and these efforts have been extremely well received by many customers. We plan to double our efforts to ensure that we can continue to provide the kind of technologies and services customers find useful.”
1-3: compared with the company's conventional products
Click to view a past news release on eTGM
Click to view a past news release on helium-free initiatives
Click to view a past news release on eGRYCOS
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About the EcoPhoton™ program
The EcoPhoton™ program is a roadmap started in 2003 to implement Green Innovations. The focus is on detailed analyses of three key cost-of-ownership (CoO) metrics: cost of consumables (CoC), cost of downtime (CoD), and cost of environment (CoE). The program aims at achieving continuous reduction of these costs by developing innovative green technologies.
About Gigaphoton
Since it was founded in 2000, Gigaphoton has delivered valuable solutions to semiconductor manufacturers throughout the world as a laser supplier. In every stage from R&D to manufacture, sales, and maintenance services, Gigaphoton is committed to providing world-class support delivered from the perspective of everyday users. For more information please visit www.gigaphoton.com.