SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- SAMPLE PREPARATION AND VISUALIZATION SYSTEM
- Notice Date
- 7/7/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- NNJ06164568Q
- Response Due
- 7/14/2006
- Archive Date
- 7/7/2007
- Description
- NASA/JSC has a requirement for a sample preparation and visualization system consisting of a high efficiency ion polishing system combined with a Charge Coupled Diode (CCD) digital imaging system. The ion-polished samples will be imaged in an existing NASA instrument (transmission electron microscope (TEM)) which will be modified to include the CCD camera. Specific Requirements for the sample preparation and visualization system: (1) The ion polishing system must be a completely self-contained, ultra-clean, oil-free, compact, bench-top instrument designed to produce high-quality TEM specimens with exceptionally large, clean, electron transparent areas. The system must allow for single- or double-sided ion milling. The ion guns must be accurately and independently positioned to center the beams onto the specimen at any angle within a variable range of 0 to ?10 degrees in order to produce extremely high thinning rates at shallow glancing angles of incidence to the specimen. The gun angle should be able to be changed at any time during operation. Specimen exchange in the system must be fast (<30 seconds) and not expose the sample to atmosphere when loading and unloading. The capability of transmission or reflection illumination of the specimen during the milling process is required as is the ability to accurately determine specimen thickness by the interference fringe technique. Specific requirements of the ion guns are: Two Penning ion guns each independently adjustable to permit either rapid milling or slow precise ion polishing. Ion beam energy shall be continuously adjustable from 1keV to 6keV. Beam width at the sample shall be no larger than 400?m FWHM for standard guns and no larger than 850?m for Broad Beam guns. The milling angle shall be continuously variable from +10? to ?10? and fully adjustable during operation. Gas throughput: Less than 0.1cc/min per gun at 5kV. The ion guns shall have no consumable parts. The specific requirements for the vacuum system are: The vacuum system shall be totally self-contained within the enclosure. A totally oil-free vacuum system (2-stage diaphragm pump backing a 70 liter/second Molecular Drag Pump). Work chamber base pressure: 5E ?6 Torr Operating pressure: < 6E ?5 Torr. (2) The sample visualization system will consist of a CCD camera interfaced to a JEOL 2000FX transmission electron microscope (TEM). The system must also be compatible with an existing analog camera and more importantly with a retractable transmitted electron detector. The specific requirements for the CCD camera system are as follows: The CCD shall be an astronomy grade CCD with a minimum of 2048 x 2048 pixels. Each pixel size shall be a minimum of 14?m x 14?m in physical size, not effective size. The CCD shall be fiber-optically coupled to the phosphor scintillator incorporating a single fiber stack. Lens coupling or reduced fiber optic tapers shall not be accepted. A Peltier cooling system shall be standard. Air-cooled electronics and/or electric fans shall not be accepted. The CCD camera shall have the ability to be interfaced to and to be fully compatible with the following accessories: a Gatan 622 camera, Gatan retractable BF/DF (brightfield/darkfield) STEM detector. The camera shall be mounted below the film plate chamber of the TEM. It will be pneumatically retractable, mounted on-axis, and have a sensor installed to automatically retract the camera head into a vacuum enclosure whenever the microscope camera chamber is about to be vented. NASA/JSC intends to purchase the items from Gatan, Inc., the only known manufacturer that produces an acceptable CCD imaging system that is compatible with the existing camera and detectors currently in use on the JEOL 2000FX TEM in the ARES electron beam laboratories. The same CCD camera exists on a similar electron microscope within our facility; therefore, ARES personnel training can be avoided. More importantly is the fact that this CCD camera is the only one known that will properly mate with this existing microscope to produce the ARES requirements for this laboratory. As a compliment to the CCD camera, the sample preparation portion of this system includes the Gatan ion polishing system which is also a component familiar to ARES personnel. The Gatan system is also compatible with existing equipment and produces the specific sample preparation requirements for the unique samples studied by ARES scientists. Utilizing equipment similar to existing ARES equipment minimizes the required user training. The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact not later than 4:30 p.m. local time on July 14, 2006. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note "B". Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.
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