SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Multi-frequency Response System
- Notice Date
- 5/1/2017
- 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 B130, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1410, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1410
- Solicitation Number
- AMD-SS17-35
- Archive Date
- 5/24/2017
- Point of Contact
- Forest Crumpler, Phone: 3019756753
- E-Mail Address
-
forest.crumpler@nist.gov
(forest.crumpler@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)/Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) enables science and industry by providing essential measurement methods, instrumentation, and standards to support all phases of nanotechnology development, from discovery to production. The Nanoscale Imaging and Spectroscopy Group within CNST requires a Multifrequency response (MFR) system to be used in conjunction with various existing atomic force microscopes (AFMs) to perform nanoscale mapping of mechanical, electromechanical and electrochemical properties of materials and devices. The MFR System is an instrument that allows monitoring the mechanical and electromechanical responses of the AFM cantilever in a narrow band of frequencies centered on resonance, in real time during the microscope operation. Measuring the properties of new nanostructured materials is a critical part of the CNST mission. This tool will be a resource accessible to researchers in the CNST and to outside users via collaboration to measure a wide range of physical and electrochemical properties of materials. Procurement of one (1) MFR System to be used in conjunction with various existing atomic force microscopes (AFMs) to perform nanoscale mapping of mechanical, electromechanical and electrochemical properties of materials and devices. The MFR System consists of a stand-alone electrical module with the necessary hardware, and software for AFM imaging and data processing (analysis). If applicable, procurement of one (1) installation and training on site at CNST to learn the operation procedures for the MFR system. MINUMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR MFR System: The system shall contain the following elements and must meet or exceed the following minimum requirements: The MFR System module: 1.The MFR module must be a stand-alone mobile electronic unit with data acquisition and function waveform generation capabilities that can be used to record mechanical and/or electromechanical response of an AFM cantilever in a band of frequencies centered around the cantilever resonance as specified below. 2.The MFR module must be compatible with at least one of the AFMs available at CNST (Cypher from Asylum Research, BRR from Semilab, Dimension from Veeco, or Icon Dimension from Bruker). This implies that the MFR module must be plug-and-play interfaceable with at least one of the listed microscopes. The capability to readily interface with most commonly available AFMs is preferred. 3.The MFR module must have a trigger channel for external synchronization, that would allow interfacing it with other instrumentation, including various AFMs. 4.The MFR module must output excitation waveforms and record cantilever response in a band of frequencies centered on the cantilever resonance in real time as the AFM tip scans the surface. 5.The MFR module must support measurements both in the line scanning mode and voltage spectroscopy on a user specified gridmode. 6.The MFR module must output an AC voltage excitation waveform containing at least 35 separate frequencies equally-spaced within a band. All of the frequency tones must be excited simultaneously, not sequentially. The excitation amplitudes at all frequencies must be controllable so as to generate a flat frequency band with smoothed edges (i.e. the edge frequency tones must have adjustable smaller amplitudes that the rest). The phase shift between the individual tones shall be adjustable by the user to allow for control over the phase content of the excitation and, thus, over the power that is delivered to the sample. 7.The user must have control via software or hardware over the AC excitation band center position, band width, band tones amplitude, band edge smoothing, and number of frequencies per band. These parameters must be controllable within the characteristics of the analog outputs specified below, and be sufficient to detect the mechanical and/or electromechanical response of standard AFM cantilevers. The central frequency must be tunable within the cantilever's resonant frequencies from 20 kHz to 1.2 MHz. 8.The mechanical and/or electromechanical response of an AFM cantilever must be detected and recorded in the form of amplitude vs. frequency and phase shift vs. frequency spectra around the cantilever resonance. 9.To perform voltage spectroscopy measurements, the MFR module must allow the user to build, either via provided software or via custom-written codes. custom DC voltage sequences consisting of DC steps with various envelopes, including bipolar and unipolar triangular, sinusoidal, and sawtooth envelopes. The DC step duration must be tunable within millisecond to tens of millisecond range. 10.The user must be able to apply an AC band excitation waveform within each of the DC steps of the DC sequence, either via provided software or via custom-written codes. 11.To output the AC waveform and DC sequence, the MFR module must have at least one analog output with a rate of 4 MS/s or better, a resolution of at least 14 bits, and a range of at least ±2 V. Larger number of output channels is preferred. 12.The MFR module must have at least 4 analog input channels with a rate of 4 MS/s or higher, a resolution of 14 bits or higher and a range of ±0.75 V or higher. The input channels can be used to record response signals, such as cantilever deflection, tip z-position, sample current, etc. 13.The MFR module must be supplied with software packages with graphical user interfaces that will allow the user to: a)Control the AC multifrequency excitation parameters as specified above to find the best measurement conditions. b)Record and process the cantilever response in real time. Visualize the response in real time during data acquisition either as plots of amplitude and phase at every spatial location (pixel) and every frequency or, preferably, by fitting the response to the simple harmonic oscillator model and visualizing the fitting coefficients such as resonant amplitude, frequency, phase shift and quality factor. This is required so that the user could monitor the progress of the measurement in real time, rather than wait until a lengthy measurement is performed. c)Visualize in real time any of the input signals, by user's choice. d)Save the data, including any of the auxiliary signals from the input channels. e)Implement custom operational modes/techniques by accepting custom-written codes in a MFR module-supported language, such as Python, MatLab, Labview or equivalent, that determine the voltage excitation waveform; data recording, processing and visualization; and the usage of input/output channels and triggers. f)Stronger consideration: software capable of mapping out the mechanical, electrical and electro-mechanical properties of the sample. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and specifications are developed for a vendor that can meet NIST's minimum requirements, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a Purchase Order. 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. 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 1,000 employees or less. Please include your company's size classification in any response to this notice. Companies that can provide a Multifrequency Response System are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to forest.crumpler@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(s) 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 forest.crumpler@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-SS17-35/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899, United States
- Zip Code: 20899
- Zip Code: 20899
- Record
- SN04491037-W 20170503/170501234601-faa55355daea0e6d99517556d3436149 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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