SAN DIEGO, Feb. 19 -- JMAR Research Inc. has been awarded a $4.5 contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to deliver its one-nanometer point source x-ray lithography (XRL) system, which will be use to produce ultrahigh-speed gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors.
Military applications include the operation of the electronic warfare arrays found on the F-22 Raptor and radar on the recently approved Joint Strike Fighter. They are also critical to the effectiveness of the Army's Longbow missile and are expected to play a key role in its evolving "digital soldier" program, as well as in a variety of classified airborne, space and battlefield systems, JMAR said.
The company said it expects that once its XRL equipment is qualified for production of semiconductor products for military applications, GaAs chip manufacturers will move to install these XRL systems into their commercial product manufacturing facilities. JMAR also said XRL offers significant potential for a variety of manufacturing applications in the general nanotechnology field.
The contract will be incrementally funded over three years.