JMAR Awarded $9.0 Million Contract for Construction of Integrated X-Ray Point-Source Lithography System

Source: JMAR Technologies Inc.

Award Marks Important Step Forward in JMAR s XRL Program

JMAR s X-ray Lithography (XRL) System Expected to Offer Substantial Performance and Cost Advantages to Manufacturers of High-Bandwidth Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Semiconductors

San Diego, CA. JMAR Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:JMAR), a provider of precision products for the microelectronics industry, announced today that it has been awarded an additional $9.0 million of contract funding for its X-ray lithography (XRL) program from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

These funds will be used by JMAR for construction of an integrated engineering prototype point source XRL system for production of high-bandwidth gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors for the optical networking, high performance wireless telecommunications and military markets.

The integrated system will include an XRS 2000 NanoPulsar(TM) lithography stepper manufactured by SAL, Inc. of South Burlington, Vermont, powered by a 25-watt collimated JMAR PXS-125 laser plasma X-ray source. The collimator is a leading-edge optical device that directs the one nanometer wavelength X-rays produced by the PXS-125 onto the semiconductor mask/wafer target. This will be the first X-ray point source system with a collimator to be used in semiconductor manufacturing.

John S. Martinez, Ph.D., JMAR s chairman and CEO, commented, "JMAR has been a leading developer of compact X-ray lithography (XRL) sources for the past several years. This additional funding will accelerate the transition of JMAR s high-performance, compact XRL technology from the laboratory to the factory floor. We are especially pleased that, with this new contract addition, DARPA has expressed its confidence in JMAR by assigning us the overall responsibility for producing a fully integrated XRL system for installation in an established GaAs manufacturing facility. We expect DARPA to make available prior to yearend additional funding to support the system installation and checkout.

"Recent industry studies suggest that the projected costs of advanced lithography technologies, such as deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) for producing many of the finer circuit features required to support the future product needs of the microelectronics industry, are soaring dramatically as researchers have gained greater familiarity with the technical difficulties involved in implementing them," Dr. Martinez continued.

"As the trend toward smaller circuit sizes continues, we believe lithography systems based on JMAR s PXS light sources and SAL s NanoPulsar steppers (which, comparatively, do not require expensive optics) could become increasingly attractive to semiconductor manufacturers as they strive to meet the demand for those ever-smaller microcircuits within an economically-feasible cost structure."

Dr. Martinez noted, "We believe this new contract funding demonstrates DARPA s confidence in the potential for the combined JMAR and SAL technologies to provide the semiconductor industry with a lower cost, more agile approach to manufacturing the very high performance chips needed to operate a range of future military and commercial electronic systems and components. This is a major step forward for the XRL industry."

SAL is the world s most experienced provider of XRL stepper systems, having built and installed 15 such systems around the world. JMAR is the world s leader in laser plasma X-ray source technology. During the past year JMAR has made a number of important new advancements in the demonstrated performance of its patented PXS one-nanometer XRL light source technology. Included among them are the order of magnitude improvements in both the X-ray power output of the PXS and in the intensity of the collimated X-ray power illuminating the semiconductor mask/wafer targets. Important advancements have also been made in the areas of target debris reduction and uninterruptible source operating life.

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 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, 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. Dennis E. Valentine Tel: 760/602-3292 http://www.jmar.com