JMAR awarded $5m in new contracts.

JMAR Technologies Inc., a developer of advanced lasers and Collimated Plasma Lithography (CPL) systems and a provider of semiconductor production and design services, announced recently that its Microelectronics Division has been awarded two new contracts totaling approximately $5 million to enhance the semiconductor fabrication processes installed at the Advanced Reconfigurable Manufacturing for Semiconductors (ARMS) foundry owned and operated by the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) in Sacramento, Calif.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS), a prime contractor for DMEA, issued these contracts to JMAR as an element of the Defense Department's Advanced Technology Support Program (ATSP). Since the establishment of the ARMS foundry in 1999, JMAR has played a key role in the installation and implementation of that foundry's chip fabrication processes, which include CMOS gate array, EEPROM, and radiation tolerant ultra-thin silicon technologies.

"These contracts continue JMAR's long-standing relationships with GDAIS and the DMEA and underscore our unique role in improving the ARMS foundry, which is an important part of the DMEA operations," said Ronald A. Walrod, president and chief executive officer of JMAR Technologies. "We believe JMAR's Microelectronics Division's business will continue to grow over time as we support the DMEA's mission and apply the unique access the agency has given us to the ARMS foundry so we can enhance the ARMS foundry processes and leverage their use for commercial product development.

"The vital support JMAR has been providing to the DMEA since the inception of the Sacramento foundry has been instrumental in helping that organization fulfill its increasingly vital role in the nation's defense," he said. "Based on the success of that effort, we are very confident that our relationship with DMEA will, over time, result in expanded opportunities for JMAR, while at the same time increasing the value of the essential services it provides."

The DMEA was established by the Department of Defense to utilize the most advanced technologies to extend the life of weapons systems by addressing the problem of microelectronics obsolescence. Its mission and capability is recognized as both unique and critical for the DoD as well as for other branches of the U.S. Government, including NASA, the FAA, and the Department of Transportation. DMEA's advanced technology services and facilities are also available to the private sector through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA).

Under a contract awarded by General Dynamics in 1998, JMAR supported the DMEA in the design and construction of the ARMS foundry. The foundry is a custom integrated circuit prototyping facility responsible for producing innovative microcircuits to replace critical obsolete military system electronics, thereby extending the operational lifetimes of those systems for substantial periods with attendant savings to the U.S. Government. JMAR maintains a semiconductor process engineering and operations group adjacent to DMEA's facility in Sacramento. The work under the current contracts will be performed on-site by JMAR's Sacramento staff.

With headquarters in San Diego, JMAR Technologies Inc. is the originator of Collimated Plasma Lithography, a next-generation lithography (NGL) alternative designed to deliver affordable, sub-100 nanometer chip-making capability in a compact format to the semiconductor industry. In addition to CPL, JMAR develops other products for the public and private sectors based on its proprietary "Britelight" laser light source. JMAR's operations include its laser and laser-produced plasma Research Division in San Diego; its Systems Division in Burlington, Vt., where CPL Stepper Systems are designed and manufactured; and its Microelectronics Division, based in Sacramento, where JMAR provides process integration and maintenance support for the U.S. Government's Defense Microelectronics Activity semiconductor fabrication facility.