Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JULY 09, 2006 FBO #1686
SOLICITATION NOTICE

66 -- Low-Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope

Notice Date

7/7/2006
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

519190 — All Other Information Services
 

Contracting Office

Library of Congress, Contracts Services, Contracts Section, 101 Independence Ave SE LA-325, Washington, DC, 20540-9411
 

ZIP Code

20540-9411
 

Solicitation Number

LC06-LSP20060079
 

Response Due

7/31/2006
 

Archive Date

8/15/2006
 

Description

The Library of Congress intends to purchase through sole source from FEI Company, 5350 NE Dawson Creek Drive, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124, a FEI Quanta 600 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEMTM) that will permit the Library to investigate the stability and reactivity of collection materials in environments that contain water and other potentially deleterious gaseous species, and also be operated in the high-vacuum regime with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to allow the Library to perform analytical testing to determine the inorganic chemical composition of collection materials. It is the Library?s understanding that the identified low-pressure scanning electron microscope is the only one commercially available in the U.S. that is capable of meeting the Library?s critical performance requirement for performing SEM experiments under conditions of high humidity that also meets the following needs: It must be usable at high vacuum (approximately 7-8 x 10-6 torr) for performing standard SEM-EDS experiments of conducting materials that must be prepared prior to analysis, medium vacuum (approximately 1 torr) for SEM experiments of non-conductive materials that can be analyzed directly without preparation, and at low pressure (approximately 20 torr) for SEM experiments of materials that need to be analyzed in an environment that contains 0-100% relative humidity (water) and/or other gaseous species; each of the three vacuum regimes must be easily and directly accessed through simple switching; it must be equipped with an energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) system that will allow full integration and control of a state-of-the-art x-ray detector; it must be equipped with a Peltier or comparable heating stage and controller for performing low-pressure experiments at relative humidities up to 100%, and a 1000 ?C or comparable heating stage for performing low-pressure experiments at various temperatures; the internal physical dimensions must be such that a sample of surface area approximately six square inches and a height approximately three inches can be analyzed directly in the medium vacuum and low pressure regimes; the resolution for all vacuum regimes for SEM must be less at least 3.0 nm at 30 kV, for high-vacuum, the resolution must be at least 10 nm at 3kV, and for low-pressure, the resolution must be at least 12 nm at 3 kV; the field of view must be at least 18 mm in all vacuum regimes; an IR-CCD camera must be included and interfaced to the computer so that its output is viewable simultaneously with electron images; the software must be capable of controlling the stage position and must be able to provide for mapping of large samples, have a graphical user interface that provides high pixel density (at least 4096 x 3536) with dwell times of at least 50 ns/pixel to1 ms/pixel, and provide for electronic scanning at different rotations (n x 360 degrees), be capable of providing live view, averaging, or integrating images, which must be savable as TIFF files in 16-bit depth, be capable of allowing the user to modify image contrast, brightness, and gamma, and all metadata must be stored in the TIFF image file; a second computer must be provided for the EDS system; and at least three days of on-site training for SEM and low-pressure SEM and an off-site training course for SEM-EDS must be provided. Any other company that, at the time of application, (1) is either legally incorporated as a U.S. business entity or capable of demonstrating through its business plan its intention to be fully incorporated as a U.S. business, and (2) believes its low-pressure scanning electron microscope can meet all the above equipment performance requirements can apply to the Library for consideration.
 

Place of Performance

Address: The Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC

Zip Code: 20540

Country: UNITED STATES
 

Record

SN01084816-W 20060709/060707221712 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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