Richard, this information comes from the new JMAR web page, and explains the XRL story:
A Key to Renewed Semiconductor Industry Growth Lithography is one of the most critical elements in the production of semiconductors, or integrated circuits (IC's). It is a photographic process that uses precision light sources to copy intricate computer-generated electronic circuit designs onto the semiconductor wafers from which the individual microchips are made. Future growth of the semiconductor industry is tied directly to its ability to produce ever-smaller
electrical circuits - the key to higher circuit density microchips and new, higher performance electronic products. Advanced lithography is the key to making this possible.
JMAR's advanced lithography program, initiated several years ago,
employs our patented BritelightT solid state laser technology to produce X-ray "light" having wavelengths as short as one two-hundredths that of today's most advanced deep ultraviolet (UV) sources. These dramatically shorter wavelengths will enable advanced lithography systems to place much finer circuit features onto the semiconductors thereby making them far more powerful. Our goal is to develop commercially viable short wavelength (including X-ray and extreme UV) sources to provide the basis for semiconductor lithography stations no larger and no more expensive than today's most advanced optical systems.
The Department of Defense, through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Army Research Laboratory, is developing state-of-the-art electronic systems to support future military needs. It has provided more than $10 million in contract funding to JMAR during the past four years for advancement of the Company's Picosecond X-ray Source ("PXS") technology. Such technology could become a fundamental enabler for all levels of advanced military integrated circuits. It will also make possible the manufacture of entire new generations of products of much higher performance and smaller size for the commercial marketplace, including telephones, computers, fax machines, electronic games, auto electronics and more.
An unanticipated six month delay in the receipt of major new contract funding for continuation of JMAR's X-ray Lithography (XRL) program caused re-scheduling until mid-1999 of the planned integration of our PXS source into a demonstration semiconductor lithography station.
However, that did not slow progress in the labs at JMAR Research. Shown on the lower right of the opposing page is an enlarged photograph taken in JMAR's laboratories of an X-ray mask pattern projected onto a silicon chip using X-ray illumination produced by JMAR's PXS. It contains feature sizes as small as 0.20 microns, or one five-hundredths the diameter of a human hair. The wavelength of the X-rays produced by the PXS is about one-thousandth of a micron. Therefore, from the standpoint of wavelength, alone, the light produced by this source is more than adequate for currently anticipated future lithography applications.
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