The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors that are capable of providing silane vapor deposition tool for PDMS-based soft lithography application to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), NIST's nanotechnology user facility. The tools will be sited and used as a shared resource accessible to researchers from industry, academia, NIST, and other government agencies in the CNST NanoFab. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and specifications are developed for the tools 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.

A silane vapor deposition tool is a stand-alone tool that is capable of depositing monolayer of silane based chemicals on the surface of the PDMS master to prevent PDMS from adhering to the master. Silanization is a critical step for soft lithography fabrication, especially when fabricating thin film PDMS devices with micro and/or nanometer features on the master. CNST is in the process of establishing a user based soft lithography laboratory that requires a silane vapor deposition tool. In order to increase NIST's capability to serve users and provide improved process performance and productivity for nanofabrication, NIST has a need for one silane vapor deposition tool. The tool shall meet the specifications described below.

1. General
The silane vapor deposition tool is intended to be used by researchers to deposit monolayer of silane based chemicals on the surface of the PDSM master without exposing the researcher to the chemicals during the process.

2. Tool configuration
a. Each tool shall be a stand-alone desktop system and include the following components:
(1) A process chamber that is exhausted;
(2) A process chamber with substrate holder;
(3) A programmable process controller and associated process control hardware and software.
b. The tool should have multiple chemical reservoirs and chemical vapor lines for different chemical delivery.
c. The tool shall be facilitated with the chemical delivery system within the footprint.
d. The tool shall provide safety feature to alarm users and shutdown process in case of any chemical leaks.
e. The process chamber shall always be under vacuum when not in use.

3. Wafer compatibility and wafer heating
a. The tool shall be able to process substrates with various sizes including 75 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm round and square substrate, and substrate pieces with irregular shapes that is smaller than 150mm.
b. The tool shall be able to process silicon, silicon dioxide, quartz, fused silica, GaAs, metals and ceramics.
c. The tool shall be able to heat substrate to minimum 120°C.

4. Chemical compatibility and delivery
a. The tool should be able to perform vapor deposition using following chemicals:
i. Fluorosilane;
ii. Chlorotrimethylsiloxane;
iii. Trichloromethylsiloxane;
iv. (Tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyl)trichlorosilane.
b. The tool shall be able to deliver the chemical solution to the process chamber as specified in a process recipe under microprocessor control.
c. The tool shall be able to control substrate exposure to chemical by programming minimum volume delivery and exposure time.
d. The tool is desired to be able to perform chamber cleaning between runs to prevent cross contamination between different chemicals.

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 500 employees or less. Please include your company's size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.

Companies that manufacture silane vapor deposition tools are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to [email protected] 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 [email protected] is 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.

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