Julia Jean, LLC

Julia Jean, LLC, a woman-owned small business based in Irvine, California, develops cold field emitter array technology for microwave, communications, radar, and semiconductor manufacturing applications. The vendor operates exclusively as a prime contractor (100% of awards) under total small business set-asides on Air Force Research Laboratory contracts and as a prime recipient on National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology grants.

Julia Jean's federal footprint centers on development of silicon carbide-based cold cathode electron sources and associated manufacturing processes. The vendor's Air Force work includes a $1.2 million definitive contract awarded in March 2026 (ultimate completion June 2028) for cold field emitter arrays for high power microwave applications, and a $70,773 SBIR Phase I purchase order from December 2023 for electron beam technology to support microwave communications and radar. On the civilian research side, Julia Jean received a $305,000 NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships project grant (CFDA 47.084) awarded in June 2025 for development of wafer-scale cold cathode electron sources to improve semiconductor mask writer throughput for AI chip manufacturing. The vendor also holds two NIST cooperative agreements: a $300,000 award (October 2022–May 2023) under the Science, Technology, Business and/or Education Outreach program (CFDA 11.620) to advance NIST-patented cold source field emitter technology based on silicon carbide structures, and a broader Phase II SBIR cooperative agreement (October 2023–February 2026) focused on commercialization and process scale-up of the same technology for medical imaging, security, radar, and satellite applications.

Customer concentration is narrow: the Air Force Research Laboratory dominates by dollar value ($1.3 million across two awards), while NIST and NSF split the grant base equally by count. Combined potential value across all five awards stands at $1.3 million, with $1.1 million obligated to date. One award ($1.2 million) reaches completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting a recompete opportunity. Julia Jean has not subcontracted and operates without government-wide vehicles or parent IDIQs in the source data.