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Tuesday January 13, 10:01 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

JMAR Industries Awarded $1.3 Million in New DARPA Funding to Initiate Construction of X-ray Lithography Point Source Demonstration System

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 1998--JMAR Industries Inc. (Nasdaq/NM: JMAR - news) Tuesday announced that it has been awarded $1.3 million in new funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to procure long lead-time items necessary to construct an X-ray lithography point source demonstration system this year.

The award is the first installment of a new, larger contract that JMAR expects to receive during the first quarter of 1998. The system JMAR will produce under this contract will be used to demonstrate JMAR's compact PXS X-ray ``light source'' which the company believes will provide the semiconductor industry with the basis for low cost manufacturing of the higher performance microchips required for future military and commercial electronic systems.

``The need for smaller, more powerful semiconductors continues to intensify and with that so does the need for more advanced manufacturing solutions,'' noted John S. Martinez, JMAR's chairman and chief executive officer. ``Lithography is one of the most critical steps in the production of semiconductors. It is a photographic process which copies intricate computer-generated electronic circuit designs onto the semiconductor chips.''

Martinez continued: ``To produce the high performance electronic systems of tomorrow, manufacturers need a cost effective way to squeeze more electrical circuits into smaller spaces.

``JMAR's research during the past several years provides strong evidence that a workstation using our PXS X-ray lithography source could provide an economical way to gain dramatic increases in circuit densities, hence performance, by reducing circuit feature sizes to 0.13 microns and below.''

The PXS architecture includes both pulse generating and amplifier lasers based on JMAR's high-performance proprietary solid state Britelight laser technology to produce 30 to 90 watts of the type of X-rays required for optimum lithographic exposures.

During 1998 JMAR expects to integrate its PXS with an aligner being developed under other DARPA programs to create a complete X-ray lithography workstation no larger than current optical lithography systems.

``Safe Harbor'' Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements regarding future sales and earnings growth and the projects or processes currently under development are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including delays in technology or product developments, shipment or cancellation of orders, timing of future orders, customer reorganizations, fluctuations in demand and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in the company's reports which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

JMAR Industries develops, manufactures and markets precision measurement, process control and manufacturing systems and laser products for the microelectronics and medical industries and is a leading developer of advanced lithography sources for production of higher performance semiconductors.

For more details on JMAR's lithography program and its relationship to the advanced lithography programs conducted elsewhere refer to the company home page at: www.jmar.com .


Contact:
     JMAR Industries Inc.
     Dennis E. Valentine, 619/535-1706
     http://www.jmar.com
            or
     Silverman Heller Associates
     Eugene Heller/Glenn Schoenfeld
     310/208-2550


More Quotes and News:JMAR Industries Inc (Nasdaq:JMAR - news)
Related News Categories: aerospace/defense, computers, medical/pharmaceutical

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