JMAR Awards Contract to SAL Inc. for X-Ray Lithography Stepper System

Source: JMAR Technologies

Stepper Will be Integrated With JMAR X-Ray Source and Collimator to Produce Sub-0.13 Micron Semiconductor Circuits

San Diego , CA . JMAR Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:JMAR), a leading developer of compact, high-performance X-ray sources for microelectronics manufacturing and other applications, announced today that it has awarded an initial phase contract to SAL Inc. of South Burlington, Vt., valued in excess of $1.0 million to commence construction of an XRS 2000 NanoPulsar™ X-Ray Lithography system which will be powered by a JMAR PXS-125 laser plasma X-ray source.

In addition to the JMAR PXS-125 and SAL s wafer stepper with its supporting hardware, the complete NanoPulsar™ system will include a collimator developed by X-Ray Optical Systems Inc. (XOS) of Albany, N.Y., under contract from JMAR Research Inc. (JRI), JMAR s R&D division. The collimator is a leading-edge optical device that directs the X-rays produced by the PXS-125 onto the semiconductor mask/wafer target. This is the first X-ray point source system with a collimator intended for semiconductor manufacturing. The total contract will be performed in a series of phases.

JMAR issued this contract under a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) funded program administered by the Army Research Laboratory to demonstrate laser plasma X-ray point source technology for advanced commercial lithography applications. John S. Martinez, Ph.D., JMAR s chairman and CEO, said, "We appreciate the continuing support that DARPA has provided to JMAR s laser plasma X-ray source program and believe that their investment is getting close to producing a significant payoff for JMAR, SAL and the semiconductor industry, in general."

"The completed NanoPulsar™ system is expected to achieve better than 130 nanometer resolution," commented John H. Carosella, president of JMAR s NanoLight™ division. "Accordingly, JMAR and SAL are targeting markets such as the high-speed gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor devices used in advanced telecommunications which require critical dimensions ranging from 130 nanometers (or 0.13 microns), to as small as 70 nanometers. We believe these applications could represent a substantial available market for JMAR s and SAL s X-ray lithography systems."

Carosella continued, "In the past few months we have announced several important new advances in the output power from JMAR s patented PXS one-nanometer X-ray lithography light sources. Those advances indicate that an X-ray lithography system based on JMAR s current PXS technology, including the latest XOS collimators, when integrated with SAL s XRS 2000 NanoPulsar™, will enable manufacturers of high-performance GaAs circuits to achieve significantly higher production rates than permitted by present electron beam techniques."

Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D., president and CEO of SAL Inc., said, "We are very pleased that DARPA and JMAR have selected SAL Inc. to play a major role in the construction of the semiconductor industry s first X-ray point source system to be delivered with a full-field collimator. This is a major step forward for the X-ray lithography industry." Dr. Fleming continued, "SAL is the world s most experienced provider of X-ray lithography stepper systems, having built and installed 15 such systems throughout the world. We believe the forward-looking source technology provided by JMAR -- the world s leader in laser plasma X-ray source technology -- when coupled with SAL s established X-ray stepper system capability, will provide a timely, cost-effective solution to the semiconductor industry s growing need for 130 nanometer lithography and below."

Dr. Martinez added, "From JMAR s extensive experience in providing precision manufacturing equipment and systems to the semiconductor and general microelectronics industries, we have learned that products which significantly improve production efficiency almost always directly benefit our customers bottom line. We expect this new breakthrough X-ray lithography system will do just that. Accordingly, we believe that it should be well received by the target markets."

He continued, "The mating of JMAR s world-leading point-source X-ray technology with the world s most experienced X-ray lithography system capabilities at SAL offers great near-term promise for improvements in the manufacturing throughput and economics of high bandwidth GaAs semiconductor and storage device production. As we continue to scale-up the power output of our X-ray sources, the opportunities to broaden our markets should expand rapidly to encompass an important segment of the silicon processing industry, as well."

JMAR Technologies Inc., a semiconductor industry-focused company, is a leading developer of proprietary advanced laser and X-ray light sources for high-value microelectronics manufacturing and metrology. It is also a fabless provider of high performance integrated circuits for the rapidly growing broadband telecommunications market and other microelectronics applications. In addition, JMAR manufactures precision measurement, positioning and light-based manufacturing systems for inspection and repair of semiconductors and continues to play an important role in adapting its precision semiconductor manufacturing technology to the fabrication of advanced biomedical and optical communications products.

The statements regarding JMAR s expectations for the successful development and introduction of new X-ray and other advanced light products and future sales and potential business opportunities are forward-looking statements based on current expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These risks include the failure of future orders to materialize as expected, delays in shipment or cancellation of orders, failure of acceptance of new products and new technologies, failure of advanced technology and new intellectual property to perform as predicted, the failure of pending patents to be issued, and the other risks detailed in the company s Form 8-K filed on February 15, 2000, its 1999 Form 10-K and other reports filed with the SEC.

Contact: JMAR Technologies Inc., San Diego Dennis E. Valentine Tel: 760/602-3292 http://www.jmar.com