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Technology Stocks : JMAR Technologies(JMAR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: real_time99 who wrote (7699)	4/1/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: Falstaff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9695

I agree. Many seem to misunderstand what the power level means and the mention of low-cost steppers. Also note that there is no discussion of beam collimation or delivery. This is not a working source, but a milestone demonstration of a basic system. 3 Watts is lab demonstration capability, followed later this year by 30 Watts to start to understand how the source will actually perform and integrate, followed by 90 Watts next year to be considered a prototype ready for testing with a lithography stepper. 10 lasers now to get to 30 Watts, and presumably 10 lasers with several orders of magnitude increase in power level to get to 90 Watts. A single XPS will not replace a synchrotron, and no where is there any claim of synchrotron power levels--only frequency, intensity and quality equivalence. Even in the 90W prototype, the power is only a fraction of a synchrotron, whose power may be measured in thousands of Watts (KW). As pointed out in the past, in use it is expected that a single synchrotron would provide x-ray beams to several steppers. The mention of low cost staging is irrelevant to lithography. Martinez is still emphasizing XRL. Turcu is "announcing" interest in producing x-ray applications other than XRL (i.e., he is fishing). For semiconductor fab, the XPS will have to be integrated to an extremely accurate stepper. The stepper will have to be of higher performance than is commonly used now to produce devices using 0.1 um rules. Integration of a single XPS with a single stepper is of critical importance to the economic viability of a point source and XRL. Only if this can be done with much less cost and impact than with synchrotrons will XRL have a chance now that IBM has begun to move away from XRL. Also, it must be demonstrated quickly. I am not comfortable with a prototype in 2000, but I assume JMAR understands the nature of the race. Gooch is right. In a way, this is an announcement that the prototype is a year away. However, in another way, it is much more. All investors should note Turcu's remark: "This X-ray production achievement is substantially above that of any laser plasma soft X-ray source." This is important, because the scientific community will not let it slide by if it is not true. If it is true, then JMAR has a breakthrough of sorts. Do they know what to do with it? I believe the remarks about other applications and the spot size of the x-ray source are hype at this point. However, a real breakthrough, recognized by various technical communities, may generate inquiries into other applications. That could turn hype into real engineering, real products, and real profits. This is an encouraging announcement. I do not believe for a minute it is of the magnitude that Martinez portrays it. I have dropped my other disclaimer as unwieldy. Please accept: Just IMHO.