SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Load-locked vacuum sputter deposition system
- Notice Date
- 7/26/2004
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Mountain Administrative Support Center, 325 Broadway - MC3, Boulder, CO, 80305-3328
- ZIP Code
- 80305-3328
- Solicitation Number
- RA1341-04-RP-4033
- Response Due
- 8/18/2004
- Point of Contact
- Jacqueline Wright, Contract Specialist, Phone (303) 497-5282, Fax (303) 497-3163, - Rhonda Nelson, Procurement Technician, Phone (303) 497-3487, Fax (303) 497-3163,
- E-Mail Address
-
Jacqueline.S.Wright@noaa.gov, Rhonda.Nelson@noaa.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented by additional information included this notice and in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures authorized in FAR Part 13. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) require a vacuum sputter deposition system for research and development and for single wafer processing. This system will be used for the development of superconducting devices that utilize magnetically-doped superconducting thin films. NIST requires a vacuum system capable of co-sputtering from two sputtering guns simultaneously. Additionally, NIST requires that the system be equipped with an ion-mill for surface cleaning, and a sample load-lock. The load-lock must also be configured to allow controlled oxygen dosing of the wafers between deposition steps. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will NOT be issued. The solicitation number is RA1341-04-RP-4033 and is issued as a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2001-24. The NAICS Code is 334516, and the small business size standard is 500 employees. This is a small business set-aside. Any amendment(s) hereto will only be published in the FedBizOpps. 1. General Specifications Equipment shall be a current year production model and not a prototype or one-of-a-kind system. There must be at least 5 working units of the proposed make and model operating currently in the field. Any substitutions of normally used major system components, such as software, power-supplies, load-lock mechanisms, vacuum valves, gauges and pumping equipment required to meet these specification shall be clearly noted in the specification. All equipment, excluding the rough vacuum pump shall be Class 100 clean-room compatible, designed to sit entirely within the cleanroom. All clean-room equipment shall be housed entirely within a 1.2 meter by 2.2 meter (4 by 7 foot) footprint, including hook-ups to house facilities, such as gas line connections and vacuum lines, which will pass through the wall of the cleanroom. The system shall utilize single point connections for any necessary house facilities (such as chilled water, compressed air, vent gas, process gas). The system shall have an internal electrical distribution and require only a single connection to a 208 V 3 phase 100 amp connection. The system shall meet OSHA standards for operator safety and SEMI standards for environmental safety. The system shall be equipped with an easily accessible emergency, red in color, mushroom-button shut-off switch which when activated safely turns off any ongoing process without causing damage to a sample in process during the shut-down procedure. 2. Deposition chamber The vacuum chamber shall consist of electropolished stainless steel. The chamber must be at least 38 cm (15 in) in diameter, and have at most 2 elastomer o-ring sealed flanges. All other chamber flanges shall be of copper gasket conflat type (or equivalent). In addition to the flanges necessary for pumping, sputter sources, gas inlet, shuttering, gauging and load-lock, the system shall include at least one 10 cm (4 inch) CF shuttered viewport, and at least 2 general purpose 7 cm (2.75 inch) CF ports. The chamber shall be configured with a removable top plate for servicing of the chamber. The top plate must be removable by one person using either an electromechanical hoist or other suitable arrangement. In addition to a pumping gate valve, the deposition chamber shall be some means to limit or throttle the pumping conductance. Because of particulate concerns the system geometry must be either sputter-up or sputter-across. 3. Load-lock chamber The system shall be equipped with a load-lock for the transfer of sample into the deposition chamber. The load-lock shall have an o-ring sealed door for ease in mounting of wafers. In addition to the usual chamber isolation and vent valves, the load-lock shall be equipped with pumping gate valve and a process gas inlet for oxygen dosing of the wafers in the load-lock. The oxygen dosing pressure will be no higher that 10 Torr. The process inlet flow may be controlled by either a manual needle valve or an electronic mass flow controller. 4. Pumping and Gauging The deposition chamber shall be pumped with a 20 cm (8 in) CTI on-board cryopump. The load-lock shall be pumped with a turbomolecular pump backed by a mechanical roughing pump. The deposition chamber shall have a base pressure of less than 5x10^-8 Torr. The load-lock chamber shall have a base pressure of less than 5x10^-7 Torr. The deposition chamber shall be equipped with an ionization gauge for low pressure indication, a 50 or 100 mT capacitance manometer pressure indication and a thermocouple or convectron type gauge for high pressure indication. The load-lock chamber shall be equipped with a an ionization gauge for low pressure indication, a 10 Torr capacitance manometer with isolation valve for oxidation pressure indication and a thermocouple or convectron type gauge for high pressure indication. All gauges shall be connected to suitable readout and display devices. 5. Deposition Sources The system shall be equipped with at least 3 sputter sources and at least 2 DC sputter power supplies. The sputter sources shall consist of a 50 mm (2 inch) gun, shutter, gas inlet, and shielding. The shutter shall be controlled by either electronic or pneumatic means. The sputter sources shall be mounted in a confocal arrangement to allow for uniform sputtering onto the rotating substrate holder. The source positions shall be adjustable to obtain maximum deposition uniformity. The sputter sources will have adequate shielding to prevent cross contamination of the targets. The DC power supplies will be configured to allow switching between guns. It is preferable for the system to include 3 power supplies (one for each gun). In order to maintain compatibility with existing equipment it is preferable for the system to utilize low impedance versions of either the MDX 1K or MDX 1.5K power supplies from Advanced Energy. If power supplies smaller than 1 kW are specified in the proposal, the offeror shall provide documentation that the proposed gun/power supply combination can obtain a deposition rate for Cu in excess of 1.5 nm/sec at throw distances appropriate to meet the uniformity specification in the Acceptance section of this document. 6. Ion Source The system shall be equipped with an ion source for cleaning the substrates by ion milling with Ar ions. The ion source shall be capable of delivering a beam of at 0.10 mA/cm^2 at an ion energy of 400 V and be able to provide a maximum ion energy of at least 1000 volts. The ion source shall be at least 3 cm in diameter with defocusing ion optics. It is preferable that the ion source be of a Veeco model 03DC-PKG-ASSY Kaufman type source although other sources are possible. The ion source shall either be mounted in a confocal position (like the sputter guns) or along the central axis of substrate rotation, with the central axis position being preferred. The ion source shall have adequate shielding to prevent contamination from the sputter sources. The ion source shall include an appropriate power supply. 7. Substrate Handling The deposition system shall be able to pump, load, and deposit on 75 mm (SEMI-standard 3 inch wafer) with less than a 2 mm edge exclusion region. The system shall be upgradeable to 100 mm wafers without replacement of major components such as load-lock, gate valves etc. It is preferred that the system can pump, load, and deposit on any substrate from odd-shaped pieces up to 150 mm wafers with only minor system modification. The system shall be able to transfer the substrates from the load-lock to the deposition chamber in a simple and efficient manner. The substrate holder shall be rotatable, and equipped with a motor capable of rotating the substrates at a speed of at least 30 rpm. The substrate holder shall be designed such that the wafer temperature will not exceed 130C after 5 minutes of sputtering at conditions that obtain a deposition rate of 1.5 nm/sec for Al. This may be accomplished by active cooling of the substrate holder, or by use of a substrate holder of sufficient heat capacity. It is preferred that the substrate holder be retrofittable for both rf-biasing or heating to temperatures of at least 500 C. 8. Process gas handling The system shall provide means to provide process gas to the sputter sources. There shall be at least two process gas inputs. Each process gas channel shall consist of a pneumatically or electrically controlled shutoff valve and a mass-flow controller. The system shall provide electronic means for controlling the mixture of the both the input gas mixture and the system process pressure. Either upstream (flow control) or downstream (conductance control) is acceptable. The system must provide adequate flows and pumping conductance to allow operation over a pressure range from less than 2 mTorr to greater than 20 mTorr during sputter operation. 9. Controls, Instrumentation and Automation The system shall include a centralized control for all functions. While a manual system is acceptable (pneumatic or electronic switch panel), some form of electronic automation is preferable. Ideally, automation should be listed as an optional upgrade (to be purchased with the system). 10. Installation, Documentation and Warranty The system shall be provided with a complete set of system electrical, vacuum and plumbing schematics including control schematics, and a complete set of operations and maintenance manuals. All manuals shall be provided in either electronic form (preferred) or be printed on cleanroom paper and bound in cleanroom binders. The system shall undergo pre-acceptance testing at the manufacturer??s facility with testing as described below. The system shall be installed at the NIST Boulder Labs by the vendor in cooperation with NIST staff. Training shall be provided for at least three people for at least one day. The system shall undergo post-acceptance testing at NIST Boulder Labs, demonstrating process performance as outlined above. The system shall include a warranty for all parts and labor for at least 1 year. 11. Acceptance Testing The system shall demonstrate the following: 1. A Base pressure of less that 5x10^-8 Torr. 2. Pumping of the load-lock from atmospheric pressure to less that 1x10^-6 Torr in a time period of less than 20 minutes. 3. Deposition of Cu at a rate of at least 1.5 nm/sec while maintaining a thickness uniformity of less than ?y?}?{ 3% over the 75 mm wafer with a 5 mm edge exclusion zone. 4. Deposition of Cu at a rate of at least 1.5 nm/sec while maintaining a thickness uniformity of less than ?y?}?{ 3% over the 75 mm wafer with a 5 mm edge exclusion zone. One complete set of drawings and manuals shall be provided with each system. Delivery of the systems, F.O.B. Destination, to NIST, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305-3328, shall be made within 180 days from Contractor??s receipt of contract award. Forms and clauses stipulated herein may be downloaded via the internet at the following address: http://www.masc.noaa.gov/masc/amd/prc_cont.html. Interested parties are responsible for accessing and downloading documents and forms from that (or any other) site. Firms without access to the internet may call 303-497-3221 and request that copies of the clauses, provisions, and/or forms be either mailed or faxed to them. Offers shall include a properly completed and signed Standard Form 1449. The following provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation: FAR 52.212-1, (provision) Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items@ // FAR 52.212-2, (provision) Evaluation - Commercial Items@ evaluation factors: (1) Experience and Past Performance; proposals shall include no fewer than 3 references, including address, phone number, and point-of-contact, from users who are currently operating the make and model of the proposed system in the field. Referenced models need not be of the current production year, but shall be production equipment manufactured within the past 24 months and designed for the purpose, and functionally identical to the equipment described in this specification).(2)Technical Performance; proposals shall address all points in the specifications outlined above. For major pieces of third party hardware (pumps, flow controllers, powers supplies, etc.), the manufacturer and model number shall be listed. The proposed system must meet all requirements outlines in the specifications above. For each of the categories 1-10 above, half of the listed points will be awarded for meeting the listed specifications. The remainders of points are awarded where the system exceeds specifications or contains preferred implementations. Technical and past performances, when combined, are significantly more important than price. // FAR 52.212-3, (provision) Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items@ (NOTE: Offerors shall include with their offers a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3.) // FAR 52.212-4, (clause) Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items@ // FAR 52.212-5, (clause) Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items including the following additional FAR clauses referenced in FAR 52.212-5, subparagraphs (b) (1) with Alt. I, (5), (7), (11), (12), (13), (14, (15), and (24). Award will be made to the offeror presenting the best overall value to the Government. Offers shall be evaluated in accordance with the Test Program procedures at FAR 13.500. For further information, please contact Jacqueline Wright (303-497-5282). Offers are due at 3:30 P.M. on August 18, 2004 and shall be mailed to: BID DEPOSITORY/ DOC, NOAA, MASC, MC3, Acquisition Management Division, DSRC Room GB506A, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305-3328. ALL hand-carried boxed offers must be scanned in Building 22 at 325 Broadway in Boulder, Colorado prior to being delivered to the David Skaggs Research Center., Room 33-GB506A, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO. If the boxes are not scanned, they may be refused. E-MAIL OR FACSIMILE OFFERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Synopsis can be found at the following website: http://www.masc.solicitation@noaa.gov
- Place of Performance
- Address: Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Mountain Administrative Support Center, 325 Broadway - MC3, Boulder, CO
- Zip Code: 80305
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 80305
- Record
- SN00630290-W 20040728/040726211802 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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