JMAR Achieves Breakthrough X-Ray Source Performance; Key Milestone for Compact, Low-Cost Alternative to Synchrotrons
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1999--JMAR Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ NM:JMAR), a growing provider of precision micro-technology products, announced that its JMAR Research center has achieved a major X-ray production milestone with its patented picosecond X-ray source, or PXS.
Individual PXS modules in qualification testing have been producing approximately 3 watts of 1-nanometer synchrotron-like X-rays on a steady state basis. The PXS is powered by JMAR's new Britelight(TM) laser, a few cubic feet in size. It produces a rapid train of very short and powerful light pulses having intensities of many hundreds of trillions of watts per square centimeter that are focused into a breadbox-size chamber to produce the X-rays.
"Our ability to achieve meaningful 'soft' X-ray generation in a package this small, by combining our new compact lasers with advanced optics, is one of the most important technology developments in the Company's history," said John S. Martinez, JMAR's chairman and chief executive officer. "Previously, such X-rays could only be made commercially by synchrotrons, larger by orders of magnitude than our PXS technology, and costing up to $50 million, including supporting facilities.
"This new X-ray milestone represents a significant advance in the Company's drive to develop a compact, lower-cost alternative to the large, costly synchrotrons for advanced semiconductor lithography applications. Its tiny, less than seven microns, X-ray source spot size also opens the door for JMAR to become a serious competitor in alternative major-market X-ray applications such as high resolution X-ray imaging, radiobiology, X-ray fluorescence analysis and micromachining."
Added JMAR Chief Scientist, Edmond Turcu, Ph.D., an internationally recognized authority in the generation and application of soft X-rays, "This X-ray production achievement is substantially above that of any laser plasma soft X-ray source. I believe that we will be able to demonstrate a compact, economical X-ray source for semiconductor lithography and other advanced X-ray optical applications within the near future. Soft X-rays of the type generated by JMAR's Britelight(TM)-driven PXS, positioned and controlled by the Company's low-cost precision stages - rather than multi-million dollar lithography steppers - have great potential for a new range of practical non-lithography applications in the semiconductor, life sciences, and industrial markets."
Richard M. Foster, president of JMAR Research Inc., the company's division responsible for X-ray source and laser R&D, commented, "We are currently in the process of scaling up our PXS technology, consisting of several Britelight(TM) laser modules, to higher X-ray power levels. This initial multi-module system, designed to produce in excess of 30 watts of X-rays, will begin operational testing in the second quarter of this year. It will be followed by a 90-watt beta system scheduled for the first half of 2000 having a throughput goal of twenty-four 300-millimeter wafers per hour for production of integrated circuits having feature sizes of 0.13 microns, and below. We expect this system will be competitive for commercial semiconductor lithography applications."
For more information on JMAR's X-ray source development program please refer to the company Home Page at www.jmar.com. |
