Commercial semi-automatic probe stations

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-44

PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY

Title:  Commercial semi-automatic probe stations

BACKGROUND

Silicon carbide field effect transistors (FETs) have emerged as a superior solution to silicon FETs for high power semiconductor applications. In recent years, the silicon carbide FET industry has grown at a significant rate with applications in photovoltaics, the power grid, electric vehicles, energy storage, and more. Despite the commercial success of these devices, the industry is plagued by reliability problems, often leading to the need for redundancy in integrated systems. Arguably most important among these issues is the extrinsic breakdown characteristics of the FET gate oxide. Studying this problem requires a deep statistical understanding of device behavior, and innovative solutions for pre-screening from the factory. A large-scale, multi-faceted reliability testing platform is required in order to find solutions.

The CHIPS R&D Program Office intends to purchase a 300 mm wafer probing station which will facilitate the study of transistor characteristics, leakage currents, and breakdown behavior of silicon carbide FET gate dielectrics. This purchase aligns with the CHIPS R&D Programs Office’s mission to standardize new materials, processes, and equipment for microelectronics research. The resulting data will be compared to statistical breakdown data obtained through our effort to create a massively parallel testing platform. The data will also be compared to that of industry standard pre-screening tests on identical samples in order to verify or dispute their accuracy. Similar methodology may be applied to other gate oxide reliability problems in the future.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Insert brief description of item (e.g. Optical Table, Part Number)

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications
   
   1. Must be a semiautomatic wafer probing station capable of probing wafers up to 300 mm in diameter
   2. Must be capable of probing both whole wafers and pre-diced dies
   3. Must be four probes capable of probing pad sizes as small as 40 µm x 40 µm, with a pitch of 60 µm. Probes must have magnetic bases.
   4. Must be compatible with and include low-noise, blade-style probe tips
   5. Must include a heated wafer chuck capable of reaching temperatures of at least 200 degrees Celsius
   6. Must include digital microscope capable of imaging 5 µm features
   7. Must include user-friendly software for control of probing and microscope manipulation
   8. Must include vibration isolation

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

•           Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

•           Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements and its past experience with commercial semi-automatic probe stations. Any relevant past performance.

•           Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

•           For the NAICS code

o          Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

o          If you believe the NAICS and/or Product Service Code code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS/PSC code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.

•           If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

•           Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.

•           Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

•           Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 12, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.