TECHNOLOGY : Firms Putting More Computer Memory Into Smaller Packages

Call it the battle of the very small pancakes.

Irvine Sensors Corp. in Costa Mesa said it has delivered prototype computer memory components that stack on top of each other so that at least four times as much memory capacity can be stacked in a device the size of a dime.

Dense-Pac Microsystems in Garden Grove also says it has begun selling similar memory devices that use a different technology for squeezing more memory chips into a compact package.

John Stuart, chief financial officer of Irvine Sensors, said his company expects to begin marketing its product in the next several months to both military and non-military customers. Prototypes were delivered to the Air Force in January for potential military applications, Stuart said.

“The two-dimensional electronics package is running out of room,” Stuart said. “Three-dimensional is the only way to go, so we expect a lot of competition over the next few years.”

John Forthun, design engineering manager at Dense-Pac, said his company’s devices do not have the same capacity for stacking memory chips, but he said the company is aiming at a broader market than Irvine Sensors.

“We have been shipping since 1990 and expect to sell about $5 million worth by the end of the (fiscal) year” ending Feb. 28, 1993, he said.