JMAR to Produce Lithography Masks for Navy

SAN DIEGO, June 3 -- JMAR Technologies Inc., developer and supplier of proximity x-ray lithography systems and light sources, said its JMAR/SAL NanoLithography Inc. (JSAL) division, in Burlington, Vt., has received a contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md., for up to $10 million for sub-100 nanometer geometry next-generation lithography masks to produce advanced semiconductors.

The contract, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is a two-year effort that will produce x-ray masks used in the development and production of high-performance gallium arsenide (GaAs) millimeter wave integrated circuits (MMICs). MMICs are used by the government and industry for radar, communication and space-borne applications in high-performance systems. They are also starting to play key roles in the consumer electronics industry for automotive adaptive speed control and for high-speed Internet communications. The contract is in addition to the company's recently announced $34.5 million DARPA-funded contract from the Department of the Army for continued development, construction and demonstration of JMAR's one-nanometer laser plasma proximity X-ray lithography system.

With the awarding of the contract to JMAR, JSAL granted to the IBM Microelectronics Division in Essex Junction, Vt., a $3-million subcontract to design, produce and deliver up to 50 masks during the first year of the contract.