SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Cryogenic Scanned Probe System
- Notice Date
- 3/1/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1640, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- AMD-13-SS30
- Archive Date
- 3/30/2013
- Point of Contact
- Todd D Hill, Phone: 301-975-8802
- E-Mail Address
-
todd.hill@nist.gov
(todd.hill@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors that are capable of providing a custom, high-vacuum, closed cycle cryogenic scanned probe system, with the capability to deliver 10 GHz of near field RF to a sample using a shorted coaxial probe tip. The system will be utilized by the Physical Measurement Laboratory to support advanced spectroscopic measurements (including magnetic resonance) on point defects which impact the macro-scale properties of semiconductor devices. After results of this market research are obtained, analyzed, and translated into detailed specifications, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a Purchase Order for such a custom system. If at least two qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, then any competitive procurement that resulted would be conducted as a small business set-aside. As the active area of semiconductor devices continues to shrink, single atomic-scale defects begin to play increasingly important roles in determining macro-scale performance and reliability. One of the core competencies of the Physical Measurements Laboratory at NIST is to understand and develop appropriate measurements to identify, characterize, and eventually mitigate the populations of these offending atomic-scale defects. To meet this goal, NIST plans to purchase a custom, high-vacuum, closed-cycle cryogenic scanned probe system in which the scanned probe topological information will be used as a "map" to accurately scan an additional coaxial-probe across the same area. This RF probe will be capable of supporting a 10GHz RF signal (customer supplied). The system will also include (at least) three additional coarse adjustment probes (5 um resolution) to provide (DC or quasi-DC) electrical signals (customer supplied) to the sample devices. The measurement chamber will be variable temperature from cryogenic temperatures up to 373 K (higher preferred). The system will also be capable of providing a magnetic field of (at least) 3000 G perpendicular to the plane of the sample. The system must be capable of simultaneously sweeping the magnetic field (± 200 G quasi-DC) as well as modulating the magnetic field (±15 G at 100 kHz). The measurement system shall meet the following minimum requirements. 1. BASE SYSTEM a. The base system shall be cryogen free (closed cycle, no liquid helium or nitrogen required) and shall only require an initial charge of He gas to initialize a self-cooling cryogenic system. b. The base system shall have seamless and stable temperature control from ≈ 4 K (or lower) to 373 K or higher. The system shall be capable of cooling a sample from 300 K to ≈ 4 K (or lower) in less than 2 hours while maintaining the temperature at ≈ 4 K (or lower) for an unlimited period of time to enable extended measurement periods. c. The base system shall enable the temperature to be linearly varied to cool or warm the sample at a user defined rate ranging from 0.02 K/min or lower to 5 K/min or larger. d. The base system shall have a temperature stability of ± 0.1 % or better. e. The base system shall have a permanent magnet capable of producing at least 3000 G at the sample surface. The magnetic field shall be oriented perpendicular to the sample surface. The magnetic field shall have the ability to be nulled via remote spatial separation from the sample. The magnetic field shall be capable of simultaneously sweeping the magnetic field (± 200G quasi-DC) as well as modulating the magnetic field (±15 G at 100 kHz) using a electromagnet arrangement with 1 coil (or more). Magnetic field homogeneity of 1 part in 10,000 (or better) across the entire sample chuck f. The base system shall be pumped by oil free pumps to ensure a clean sample environment. The vendor shall describe the type of pumps used in the system. g. The base system shall have a sample chuck which can accept minimum sample areas of 2 cm x 2 cm. h. The base system will include a high-powered optical microscope for positioning the sample under the scanned probe. 2. PROBE ARRANGEMENT: The system shall be equipped with (1) a single scanned atomic force microscopy probe (with electronics for scanning tunneling probe measurements as well). (2) A single shorted co-axial cable whose tip position is spatially referenced to the atomic force microscopy probe tip. The spatial reference between the atomic force microscopy probe tip and the co-axial probe tip must be repeatable via calibration steps and accurate to within 1 nm or less. The co-axial cable must be capable of passing 10 GHz or greater (user supplied from external feed-through) RF signals (3) Three (or more) additional coarse adjust probes (5 um resolution or less) to provide DC (or quasi-DC) electrical signals to the sample devices. The optical microscope will be used to position these probes. (4) A separate electrical connection to the sample chuck to provide DC or quasi-DC electrical signals. This connection should be capable of accepting multiple wire-bond connections 3. MEASUREMENT PROCEDURE: a. (1) DC or quasi-DC probes are first landed on the sample with the aid of the optical microscope. (2) the atomic-force microscopy probe is scanned across an area of interest. The area of interest is coarsely defined using the optical microscope. (3) the RF co-axial probe tip is then scanned across the same area of interest using the atomic-force microscopy measurement as a positional reference. The RF co-axial probe tip will be kept a constant offset distance above the sample. This offset should be controlled to 1 nm (or less). 4. TRAINING: The vendor shall provide on-site operation and maintenance training. 5. TIMELINE: NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Proposals for the system no later than May 2013, and awarding a Purchase Order for the system no later than the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 (third quarter of calendar year 2013). NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large, foreign, and small businesses. Small businesses are defined under the associated NAICS code for this effort, 334516, as those domestic sources having 500 employees or less. Please include your company's size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice. Companies that manufacture the described scanned probe system are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to todd.hill@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice. The report should include achievable specifications and any other information relevant to your product or capabilities. Also, the following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice: 1. Name of the company that manufactures the system components for which specifications are provided. 2. Name of company(ies) that are authorized to sell the system components, their addresses, and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address). 3. Indication of number of days, after receipt of order that is typical for delivery of such systems. 4. Indication of whether each instrument for which specifications are sent to todd.hill@nist.gov are currently on one or more GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts and, if so, the GSA FSS contract number(s). 5. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/AMD-13-SS30/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899, United States
- Zip Code: 20899
- Zip Code: 20899
- Record
- SN03001004-W 20130303/130302092042-b0ccd056184d34ddba2b2935e861fbd6 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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