SAN DIEGO, April 19 -- JMAR Technologies Inc. has signed a letter of intent to acquire Vermont-based Semiconductor Advanced Lithography Inc. (SAL), a provider of x-ray lithography (XRL) stepper systems.
    SAL's XRL systems can image sub 100 nm circuit patterns. By integrating JMAR's plasma x-ray sources with SAL's x-ray steppers and other supporting technologies, the new JMAR/SAL lithography unit will offer manufacturers of high-speed gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors an XRL processing capability before the end of 2002. The new unit also expects to provide more affordable sub 0.13 µm silicon chip processing on an earlier timescale than currently projected for alternative developmental technologies, such as extreme ultraviolet.