Coherent, Inc. provides laser solutions and optics for microelectronics, life sciences, industrial manufacturing, scientific and aerospace and defense markets.
Segments
The company operates through two segments, OEM Laser Sources (OLS) and Industrial Lasers & Systems (ILS).
OLS: This segment focuses on laser sources and complex optical sub-systems used in microelectronics manufacturing, medical diagnostics, and therapeutic applications, as well as in scientific research.
ILS: This segment de...
Coherent, Inc. provides laser solutions and optics for microelectronics, life sciences, industrial manufacturing, scientific and aerospace and defense markets.
Segments
The company operates through two segments, OEM Laser Sources (OLS) and Industrial Lasers & Systems (ILS).
OLS: This segment focuses on laser sources and complex optical sub-systems used in microelectronics manufacturing, medical diagnostics, and therapeutic applications, as well as in scientific research.
ILS: This segment delivers laser sources, sub-systems, and machine tools primarily used for industrial laser materials processing, serving major end markets, such as automotive, machine tools, consumer goods, and medical device manufacturing, as well as applications in aerospace and defense.
Applications
The company’s products address a range of applications that, beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, it grouped into various markets, such as microelectronics, precision manufacturing, instrumentation and aerospace and defense.
Microelectronics
The company participates in three sub-markets in the microelectronics industry, such as flat panel display manufacturing; semiconductor front-end manufacturing; and advanced packaging and interconnects.
Microelectronics—Flat Panel Display Manufacturing
The company’s excimer lasers provide a solution for low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) as they are the only industrial-grade excimer lasers optimized for this application. The current product for this application is its Vyper excimer laser and Linebeam systems. These systems deliver power ranges of 1200W to 3600W, enabling a manufacturing process step on substrate sizes of approximately Generation 6. These systems are integral to the manufacturing process on various major LTPS-based smartphone displays and hold the potential for deployment in various screens, including tablet, laptop, automotive displays, and organic light emitting diodes (OLED) television. Excimer-based LTPS is also enabling flexible OLED displays, which have undergone rapid growth as they have been adopted into smartphones.
The company is continuing to improve its efforts and investments in UV MicroLED manufacturing solutions to help its customers develop the laser processes of record, so it could, in turn, develop the laser-based capital equipment systems needed for mass production.
The company has developed a proprietary technology for cutting brittle materials, such as glass and sapphire without debris and with zero kerf called SMART Cleave, which is used for cutting brittle materials used in displays. This technology uses ultrafast lasers coupled with proprietary optics.
The company’s AVIA, Rapid, Monaco, and DIAMOND CO2 lasers are also used in other production processes for flat panel displays. These processes include drilling, cutting, patterning, marking, and yield improvement.
Microelectronics—Semiconductor Front-end Manufacturing
The company’s Azure, Paladin, Excimer, Ion, and OPSL lasers are used to detect and characterize defects in semiconductor chips.
Microelectronics—Advanced Packaging and Interconnects
The company’s AVIA, Rapid, Monaco, and Matrix lasers provide economical methods of cutting and scribing these wafers. Its DIAMOND CO2 and AVIA diode pumped solid state (DPSS) lasers are major lasers. In addition, multi-layer circuit boards require flexible production methods than conventional printing technologies could offer, which has led to adoption of laser direct imaging. The company’s Paladin laser is used for this application. The company also offers solutions for laser marking of wafers and ICs, such as its PowerLine laser sub-systems.
Precision Manufacturing
As of October 2, 2021, the company improved its focus on Precision Manufacturing, a subset of the Materials Processing market, which focuses on precision and control than other parts of the laser material processing market and targeted its research and development and its manufacturing capabilities towards new products. Examples include medical device manufacturing, semiconductor wafer marking, and precision welding. Within the Precision Manufacturing area, the company participates at three levels, such as components, laser sources and laser systems. In the components space, the company focuses to introduce a whole new category of laser diode products that would allow it to address new applications and customers.
In the year ended October 2, 2021, the company primarily supported five sub-markets in the materials processing industry, such as automotive, machine tools, medical device, materials processing components, and consumer goods, as well as various smaller sub-markets. Its sales to this set of markets include components, laser sources, laser diagnostic equipment, and complete laser systems. With the major product portfolio in the laser industry, the company offers solutions for various applications on any material to its customers. The common applications include cutting, welding, joining, drilling, perforating, scribing, engraving, and marking.
Lasers are used in various applications in the automotive sub-market, from fine processing of high precision parts to marking, as well as cutting of metals and welding large components, such as gear boxes and car bodies for customers, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their customers. With the production of electric vehicles, lasers are also playing a key role in the manufacture and welding of batteries used in these vehicles. The company serves this market with its various products, including ultrafast, DPSS, CO2, diode and ARM fiber lasers, as well as systems in the areas of marking, scribing, cutting and welding.
The company serves the machine tools sub-market with components, laser sources, and systems in applications, including cutting, welding, marking, and additive manufacturing. It offers fiber lasers with various performance points in terms of power levels and beam profiles to address specific applications. During the past 12 months, the company had chosen to focus on specific lasers and processes, including single mode lasers and advanced beam shaping options, such as the ARM advanced high power fiber laser where the beam parameters could be optimized to deliver welds with various metals. As a vertically integrated fiber and laser diode supplier, the company produces various key components in-house. Other products include the company’s line up of CO2 lasers, DPSS, and ultrafast lasers.
The company serves the medical device sub-market with various lasers, as well as a portfolio of systems.
In the consumer goods sub-market, the company serves various applications in various industries, such as packaging, digital printing, jewelry, textiles, security, and consumer electronics. It serves these industries with an offering of its products from lasers to laser tools.
The company serves the materials processing market with a major product portfolio. Laser sources include the Diamond series mid-power CO2 lasers; the DC series of high power CO2 lasers; Highlight FL high power ARM fiber lasers; the DF series of high power diode laser systems; the COMPACT, MINI and EVOLUTION series of low and mid power diode lasers; the AViA, Matrix, Flare, and Helios DPSS lasers; and the Monaco and Rapid series of ultrafast lasers. Laser tools include the Performance, Select and Integral series of manual welding systems; the Exact, UW and MPS series of modular configurable laser processing systems; the EasyMark, EasyJewel, LabelMarker Advanced and Combiline laser marking systems; and the META laser cutting tools. Laser sub-systems, i.e. laser sources combined with software, beam delivery, processing heads, process monitoring, pattern recognition and vision, include the PowerLine series for marking; the StarFiber for welding and cutting; the PWS welding system; the QFS laser scribing system; and the StarShape CO2 laser-based systems.
Instrumentation
Instrumentation is one of the company’s major commercial applications. Representative applications within this market include bio-instrumentation, medical OEMs and scientific and research applications. The company also supports the laser-based instrumentation market with a range of laser-related components and power and energy measurement products.
Bio-instrumentation
The company’s OBIS, Flare, Galaxy, Sapphire, BioRay, Genesis and CellX lasers are used in various bio-instrumentation applications.
Medical Therapy
The company sells various components and lasers to medical laser companies for use in clinical applications, such as ophthalmology, aesthetic, surgical, therapeutic and dentistry. Its DIAMOND series CO2 lasers are primarily used in dental, aesthetic and surgical markets. The company has a major position in Lasik and photorefractive keratectomy surgery methods with its ExciStar XS excimer laser platform. It also provides lasers for use in cataract surgery and optical fibers for surgical applications.
The ability of the company’s optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSL) technology to match a wavelength to an application has led to the development of a high-power yellow (577nm) laser for the treatment of eye related diseases, such as Age Related Macular Degeneration and retinal diseases associated with diabetes. Other applications where its OBIS, Genesis and Sapphire series of lasers are used include the retinal scanning market in diagnostic imaging systems, as well as new ground breaking in-vivo imaging.
Scientific and Research
The company’s portfolio of lasers that address the scientific research market includes its Acuity, Chameleon, Chameleon Discovery, COMPexPro, Astrella, Revolution, Fidelity, Legend, Libra, Monaco, Vitara, Mephisto, Mira, Genesis and Verdi lasers.
The company has an installed base of scientific lasers, which are used in a range of applications spanning virtually various branches of science and engineering. These applications include biology and life science, engineering, chemistry and physics. Majority of these applications require the use of ultrafast lasers that enable the generation of pulses short enough to be measured in femto- or attoseconds (10-15 to 10-18 seconds).
Aerospace and Defense
In the year ended October 2, 2021, the company began disclosing aerospace and defense as a separate market application. It serves the aerospace and defense markets with components and laser sources in various applications, including Directed Energy weapons, as well as technology for target designation and countermeasures. Additional areas include fiber optic gyroscopes, specialty large diameter optics and telescope payloads for intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance.
Strategy
The key elements of the company's strategy include to effect its good to great transformation; streamline its manufacturing structure; utilize its technology portfolio and application engineering to lead the expansion of photonics into broader markets; optimize its leadership position in existing markets; maintain and develop additional strong collaborative customer and industry relationships; develop and acquire new technologies and market share; and focus on its core end markets.
Acquisitions
In April 2021, the company acquired Electro-Optics Technology, Inc.
Sales and Marketing
The company primarily markets its products in the United States through a direct sales force. It sells internationally through direct sales personnel located in Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, as well as through independent representatives in certain jurisdictions worldwide. Its foreign sales are made principally to customers in South Korea, China, Germany, Japan, as well as other European and the Asia-Pacific countries.
The company had one customer, Advanced Process Systems Corporation, who contributed approximately 10% of revenue during the year ended October 2, 2021.
The company maintains customer support and/or field service staff in major markets within the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and other Asia-Pacific countries. This organization works with customers, customer groups and independent representatives in servicing equipment, training customers to use its products and exploring additional applications of its technologies.
Intellectual Property
As of October 2, 2021, the company held approximately 890 U.S. and foreign patents, which expire in calendar years 2021 through 2040 (depending on the payment of maintenance fees) and it had approximately 195 additional pending patent applications that have been filed. The issued patents cover various products in all of the major markets that it serves.
Seasonality
The company has historically experienced decreased revenue in the first fiscal quarter (year ended October 2021) compared to other quarters in its fiscal year due to the impact of time off and business closures at its facilities and those of majority of its customers due to year-end holidays. For example, over the past 10 years, excluding certain recovery years, its first fiscal quarter revenues have ranged 2%-17% below the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal years.
Government Regulation
Exports of certain of the company’s products are subject to export controls imposed by the U.S. government and administered by the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce. Certain of its products are subject to the Export Administration Regulations and/or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The company is subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the U.S. export control and trade sanction laws, and similar anti-corruption and international trade laws in certain foreign countries, such as the U.K. Bribery Act.
Competition
The company competes against various public and private companies, including IPG Photonics Corporation; Lumentum Holdings Inc.; MKS Instruments, Inc.; Novanta Inc.; nLIGHT, Inc.; II-VI Incorporated; Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies Co., Ltd; and TRUMPF GmbH.
History
Coherent, Inc. was founded in 1966. The company was incorporated in 1966.
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