SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE: Zurich Instruments ultra high-frequency lock-in amplifier and boxcar averager
- Notice Date
- 8/20/2014
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 334515
— Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B130, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1410, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1410
- Solicitation Number
- NB620040-14-04311
- Archive Date
- 9/18/2014
- Point of Contact
- Paula Wilkison, Phone: 301-975-8448, Patrick Staines, Phone: (301) 975-6335
- E-Mail Address
-
paula.wilkison@nist.gov, patrick.staines@nist.gov
(paula.wilkison@nist.gov, patrick.staines@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Zurich Instruments of Zurich, Switzerland for the purchase of an ultra high-frequency lock-in amplifier and boxcar averager under other than full and open competition by the authority of FAR subpart 13.106(1)(b). The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology has a requirement for an ultra-high frequency lock-in amplifier and boxcar average which will be used for measurements of repetitive time-dependent waveforms combined with an additional periodic modulation at sampling rates up to 1.8 GHz and operation frequency up to 600 MHz. The device is needed to develop, in combination with other tools and instruments at CNST, a specialized measurement technique to identify electrically active trap states in polycrystalline photovoltaic materials with high spatial resolution. The combination of the lock-in and boxcar functionalities is required to extract weak signals with the best achievable signal-to-noise ratio. The identification of trap states is performed by analysis of transient electrical processes in time domain following an electrical or optical pulse excitation. The characteristic times of the transient process can vary by many orders, from 1 nanosecond to seconds, depending on the process and temperature of the measurements. The data acquisition in the time domain is performed by boxcar averagers or by oscilloscopes. If the absolute number of traps is small (clean samples or small sample volume in the case of nanoscale characterization), very small electrical signals have to be measured on top of a noisy transient background. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio, lock-in detection is used. Combination of lock-in and boxcar functionalities is implemented, for example, in commercial systems for deep level transient spectroscopy, however such systems currently have rather limited sensitivity and bandwidth making them unsuitable for the state-of-the-art characterization at nanoscale. Zurich Instruments is the only responsible source capable of providing an instrument with the following functionalities critical to NIST's intended use: 1) the Zurich Instruments UHFLI is the only lock-in on the market with the bandwidth of 600 MHz. This higher bandwidth is critical as it will enable NIST to perform the analysis of critical processes not measurable otherwise; the high bandwidth is required to analyze fast transient or frequency-dependent processes in photovoltaic devices. Such analysis enables determination of critical devices parameters such as defects and traps causing recombination and negatively affecting device efficiencies. 2) the Zurich Instruments UHFLI with BOX option performs as a boxcar averager, which allows data acquisition to be implemented much more efficiently (parallel acquisition of data vs. sequential data acquisition in an analog boxcar) and at shorter time scales than in any other boxcar averager; this functionality significantly improves achievable signal-to-noise ratio enabling detection of small number of traps in photovoltaic devices. 3) the Zurich Instruments UHFLI has higher sensitivity and data resolution than any other device at comparable bandwidth; this functionality improves signal-to-noise ratio in electrical measurements and enables acquisition of small signals associated with defects in photovoltaic devices 4) the Zurich Instruments UHFLI with BOX option is the only instrument commercially available which combines the functionalities of lock-in and boxcar averager with internal built-in synchronization between frequency and time domain operations. This combined functionality expands the possible range of operation/analysis in time/frequency domain in comparison with integration of stand-alone devices with single functionality (e.g. combination of separate lock-in and boxcar and/or oscilloscope). The efficient simultaneous operation in both time and frequency domain is critical for analysis of traps and defects in semiconductor devices. In a typical experiment, the identification of trap states is performed by measuring a transient electrical signal following an electrical or optical pulse excitation. To detect small contribution from specific traps and to improve signal-to-noise ratio, additional frequency modulation and lock-in detection on top of the transient waveform detection is required. Zurich Instruments is the only contractor that can provide an ultra high-frequency lock-in amplifier and boxcar averager with the characteristics described above which make it critical for the intended use of the CNST. Therefore, Zurich Instruments is uniquely qualified to provide the required an ultra high-frequency lock-in amplifier and boxcar averager. Delivery shall be FOB Destination, Gaithersburg, MD, and be completed in accordance with the Contractor's commercial schedule. This requirement is expected to be awarded in September, 2014. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334515 and the size standard is 500 employees. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 3:00 p.m. (EST) on September 3, 2014. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to paula.wilkison@nist.gov. No telephone requests will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/NB620040-14-04311/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD, United States
- Record
- SN03473266-W 20140822/140821000603-5bc4b957ff188b1d3c322a5a46ba4155 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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