DARPA Awards JMAR $1.3 Million to construct X-ray Lithography Point Source Demonstration System
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded $1.3 million in new funding to JMAR Industries Inc. to procure long lead-time items necessary to construct an X-ray lithography point source demonstration system this year.
The award is the first installment of a new, larger contract that JMAR expects to receive during the first quarter of 1998. The system produced under this contract will be used to demonstrate JMAR's compact PXS X-ray "light source," which the company believes will provide the semiconductor industry with the basis for low cost manufacturing of the higher performance microchips required for future military and commercial electronic systems.
"The need for smaller, more powerful semiconductors continues to intensify, and with that so does the need for more advanced manufacturing solutions," noted John S. Martinez, JMAR's chairman and chief executive officer. "Lithography is one of the most critical steps in the production of semiconductors. It is a photographic process which copies intricate computer-generated electronic circuit designs onto the semiconductor chips.
"To produce the high performance electronic systems of tomorrow, manufacturers need a cost effective way to squeeze more electrical circuits into smaller spaces," Martinez continued. "JMAR's research during the past several years provides strong evidence that a workstation using our PXS X-ray lithography source could provide an economical way to gain dramatic increases in circuit densities, hence performance, by reducing circuit feature sizes to 0.13 microns and below."
The PXS architecture includes both pulse-generating and amplifier lasers based on JMAR's high-performance proprietary solid state Britelight laser technology to produce 30 to 90 watts of the type of X-rays required for optimum lithographic exposures.
During 1998 JMAR expects to integrate its PXS with an aligner being developed under other DARPA programs to create a complete X-ray lithography workstation no larger than current optical lithography systems.
JMAR Industries Inc., San Diego, CA.
Tel: 619-535-1706.