Inactive

This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the NIST for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not inte... This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the NIST for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST's use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data provided in the response. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors that are capable of providing an upgrade to our existing SUSS ACS2000 Gen3 Cluster to add a developer station and post?exposure bake hotplate in an effort to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) user facility. The system is sited and used as a shared resource accessible to researchers from industry, academia, NIST, and other government agencies in the CNST NanoFab. The automated cassette?to?cassette developer module will enable development uniformity and reproducibility for high?resolution lithography applications stemming from the NanoFab contact, stepper and the laser writer lithography tools. Applications include fabricating nano-semiconductor and nano-photonic devices. The SCS200 is located at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. BACKGROUND The NanoFab currently operates several high-resolution lithography systems that are heavily used to fabricate a wide variety of devices at the aggressively nanoscaled dimensions. However, the current lithography tools cannot meet the yield requirements of a growing number of NanoFab users that are currently using manual developing of lithographically exposed substrates. To increase lithographic reproducibility, and hence yield, at the nanoscale dimensions, enhance safety by eliminating manual handling of TMAH?based chemicals, minimize the use of TMAH?based chemicals, minimize the cross?contamination between developed wafers, improve the process control and increase the NanoFab’s capacity to serve users, the NanoFab has a need for the developer station upgrade to our existing SUSS AVS2000 Gen3 Cluster tool. General Description NIST is seeking information from vendors capable of supplying all parts and labor required to add a develop station and 2 or more resist curing hotplates to our existing SUSS AVS2000 Gen3 Cluster tool. General requirements All upgrades installed must be capable of automatically processing 100 mm diameter wafers. All upgrades must be integrated into and controlled by the existing SUSS ACS200 Gen3 Cluster tool software. This includes robotic wafer movement and process parameters under recipe control. All modules must be interlocked to prevent unsafe operation. All parts supplied must be original equipment manufactured and new. Refurbished or aftermarket parts will not be considered. All onsite personnel must be OEM SUSS certified for the type of work performed. Supply and install one aqueous develop station which includes: 2 developer dispense lines with: Developer spray nozzle with 20-liter SS dispense canister. Developer puddle nozzle with 20-liter SS dispense canister. DI water nozzle. N2 drying. Back side rinse (BSR). Supply and install hotplate stations which include: Resist curing hotplate with a temperature range from 60?C to 250 ?C. Hotplate temperature non-uniformity shall be ± 1% or better across a 200 mm-diameter wafer. Lift-pins support 100 mm, 150 mm and 200 mm-diameter wafers. Established process library: The upgrades shall include established processes for automatic developing of silicon semi spec substrates using TMAH based developers. The recipes shall have the capability of single, double, and multi-step puddle development options. Established process documentation shall include process uniformity and repeatability information. 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, 333242, as those domestic sources having 1,500 employees or less. Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice. Companies that manufacture developer station and post?exposure bake hotplates 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.