NASA Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44135

66 -- SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE SYSTEM - PART 1 SOL SFO3-051357 POC Glen M. Williams, Contracting Officer, who may be contacted at (216) 433-2885, Mail Stop 500-306 This is a combined synopsis/SFO for commercial items prepared in accordance with FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This SFO and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 90-37. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code for this acquisition is 3826. The Small Business Size Standard is 500 employees. Under the Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS)(CFR 15 Part 350), the rating assigned to this acquisition is DO-C9. This procurement is being conducted under the NASA Midrange Pilot Test Program approved by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy on April 16, 1993. The specifications for the items are as follows: Specifications for Transmission Electron Microscope, Scanning/Transmission 200KV. GENERAL-The Contractor shall furnish one high resolution analytical scanning transmission electron microscope with electron imaging filter and x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy system which shall include the following items; ITEM 1. The Contractor shall provide a scanning/transmission electron microscope (STEM) which shall have the following features and capabilities; Item 1A. Vacuum System 1. Specimen area, electron source chamber, and microscope column down to the final projector lens shall be pumped by an oil-free pump. Vacuum surfaces and components in the vicinity of the electron beam shall not be subject to degassing or degradation under electron or x-ray radiation. 2. A liquid nitrogen cold trap around the specimen shall be included. Cold trap shall be compatible with detectors and specimen holders as specified below. 3. A vacuum of less than 3 x 10E-5Pa shall be maintained in the specimen area, with partial pressures of hydrocarbons less than 4 x 10E-8 Pa and of water vapor less than 8 x 10E-6 Pa. 4. A pressure difference of 104 shall be maintained between plate camera/projection chamber and microscope column via a differential pumping aperture. This aperture shall not degrade the optical performance of the instrument. Frequent camera changes shall be permitted without degrading the microscope column vacuum. This aperture shall provide a fixed crossover plane for fully focused energy loss spectrometry. 5. The vacuum system shall be protected from damage in the event of power and/or water failure Item 1B. Specimen Airlock / Stage 1. Specimen holder insertion shall be through an automatic pre-pumped airlock with high voltage and filament heating remaining on during specimen exchange. 2. Airlock and stage shall be compatible with Government owned specimen holders currently used on a Philips 400T. Inventory includes; one single tilt (Philips PW6596/00), one low background single tilt (Philips PW6597/00), two low background double tilt (Philips PW6595/00), one double tilt liquid nitrogen (Gatan 636), one single tilt heating (Gatan 628TA), one low background tilt/rotate (Gatan 650 Mark I), and one single tilt multiple specimen holder (Philips PW6598/02). If the Contractor's system can not be made compatable with the above Government inventory, the Contractor shall furnish the above stated items compatable with their System. 3. Contractor shall supply a low background single tilt holder and a low background double tilt holder. Both holders shall have mechanisms capable of holding brittle specimens without damage. 4. Specimen holder drift on a temperature stabilized holder shall be less than one (1) nanometer per minute. 5. Specimen stage shall be a fully motorized, 5-axis (X, Y, Z, alpha, beta), side entry design with alpha tilt range of plus or minus seventy (70) degrees. Control of the five axes shall be by both internal microprocessor and external computer. 6. Internal microprocessor control shall display X, Y, and Z to 0.1 micrometer and alpha and beta to 0.1 degree and provide storage and recall of a minimum of 25 sets of stage positions as defined by the five axes. 7. X and Y movements shall maintain vertical and horizontal directions on the main viewing screen and TV monitor at all magnifications. The relative speed of image movement on the main screen, binocular, and TV monitor shall be operator selectable and remain constant at all magnifications. 8. The specimen stage shall have a direct position measurement system that is free of backlash, orthogonal hysteresis, and run-on. 9. Fine X and Y adjustments shall allow specimen movements as low as 2 nanometers. Reproducibility and absolute measurement of X/Y positioning shall be less than 0.5 micrometer and angular positioning shall be less than 0.5 degrees. 10. The internal microprocessor control shall include an alpha wobbler for fine adjustment of Z to the eucentric position. 11. Software shall be provided to allow an Apple Macintosh computer to control the stage to perform automatic grid searches, image montages, and storage and recall of stage's five axes' positions. Item 1C. Electron Illumination Source 1. Range of accelerating voltages shall be to a maximum of 200KV with continuous control in nine (9) operator selectable step sizes between 50 volts and 10 KV per step. 2. Use of tungsten and/or lanthanum hexiboride emitters shall be allowed without modifying the vacuum system. 3. Microprocessor control shall prevent overheating of the emitter and provide automatic warm-up procedure for lanthanum hexiboride emitters to prevent premature failure. 4. All column alignments shall be carried out using electromagnetic beam deflectors. 5. Contractor shall provide two (2) wehnelts, both capable of using lanthanum hexiboride emitters. 6. Contractor shall provide two (2) lanthanum hexiboride emitters. Item 1D. Illumination System 1. The condenser lens aperture holder shall be capable of accepting four (4) standard or low background 3 mm apertures which can be selected by a click-stop mechanism. 2. Contractor shall include three (3) sets of four (4) low background apertures of standard sizes. 3. Microprocessor shall control the illumination system such that the intensity remains constant with changing magnification, or the maximum intensity is limited, or allow unrestricted control. 4. Illumination system shall be capable of achieving a minimum TEM mode spot size of 2 nm or less with a lanthanum hexiboride emitter with the specimen in the eucentric position. 5. Illumination system shall be constructed to minimize generation of superious x-rays. Item 1E. Objective Lens 1. Objective lens design shall allow the specimen to remain at the eucentric position for all operating modes. 2. Objective lens shall have a Scherzer resolution of less than or equal to 0.27 nm at 200 KV and lattice resolution of less than or equal to 0.14 nm at 200 KV. 3. Electrical stability shall be less than one (1) part per million per minute at 200 KV. 4. Minimum focus step shall be less than or equal to 3 nm. 5. Microprocessor shall automatically adjust focus step size with magnification with manual override possible. 6. Objective lens shall be at constant excitation to at least 600,000X to minimize thermal changes in the specimen area and to eliminate the need to adjust the objective stigmator. 7. Objective aperture mechanism shall hold a minimum of four different size apertures, selectable by a click-stop mechanism, and allow full retraction. 8. Contractor shall include three (3) sets of four (4) platinum apertures of standard sizes. 9. Microprocessor control shall provide ability to select one of five previously chosen under focus conditions or to select Scherzer de-focus. (0165)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0327 19960614\66-0002.SOL)