Under the terms, JMAR will upgrade its Model 4 X-ray lithography steppers currently installed at the University's Aladdin Synchrotron at the Center for NanoTechnology in Stoughton, Wis.The system will be upgraded to Model 5C stepper for use in producing multi-layer, sub-50 semiconductor microcircuits.

The stepper upgrade is part of a joint program being conducted by the University of Wisconsin's Center for NanoTechnology. The subcontractors include JMAR's SAL NanoLithography division, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University, and the University of Vermont.

JMAR is providing the stepper, while Mitsubishi is supplying the world's most advanced X-ray masks in the project, said John S. Martinez, chairman and chief executive of JMAR in San Diego.

JMAR said the collaboration will not involve any exchange of funds between the U.S. and Japan. The company said that the U.S. team is being funded by a combination of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and university research funds.

"The upgrades to be made to our JSAL stepper under this program will create the most advanced XRL stepper ever made," claimed Robert Selzer, senior vice president of technology at JMAR's SAL NanoLithography unit. "This stepper is expected to be capable of exposing and processing wafers with highly reproduceable and precision positioned linewidths of 70 nanometers to 50 nanometers, and smaller," he said.