Manual Probe Station

NIST-SS26-166

Title: Sources Sought Notice for Manual Probe Station

BACKGROUND

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requires a manual probe system with reliable, accurate positioners for tabletop electronic measurements through direct probing of samples. The system shall provide precise motion control for single probe micropositioners, allowing stable electrical contact to small device features such as lithography defined bonding pads. It will be used to screen devices and diagnose possible leakage paths, shorts, or contact issues by room temperature DC measurements before committing time and resources to more advanced measurements. It will also be used to do room temperature RF measurements for testing fabricated RF resonators. the probing precision, DC and RF measurement capability required for our applications.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) has a requirement for a Probe Station and is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a solution that will achieve the specifications described below: 

Description: 200 mm Manual Probe Station with both DC and RF capable micropositioners Quantity: One (1)

1. Technical specifications.

1. The system shall have the following components:
   1. a platen where micropositioners sit
   2. an optical microscope
   3. a camera for the microscope
   4. a RF capable chuck to hold the test sample
   5. QTY(4) four micropositioners with probes for DC measurement
   6. QTY(2) two micropositioners with probes for RF measurement.
2. The probe station shall be designed for RF, DC, and high-power testing applications and shall support multiple probe configurations on a common platen. The platen shall be at least 400 mm x 600 mm in size and support at least a configuration of 2 RF + 4 DC probes.
3. The system shall come with a vacuum sample chuck with capability to accommodate sample sizes greater than or equal to 200 mm.
4. The chuck shall provide vacuum holding capability with selectable vacuum zones or equivalent vacuum hole patterns suitable for holding different sample sizes.
5. The system shall provide a chuck XY stage with travel range larger than or equal to 200 mm in both X and Y directions.
6. The system shall provide a chuck XY stage with a fine travel resolution better than or equal to 0.001 mm.
7. The chuck stage shall provide theta rotation of 360° with chuck fine rotation and locking capability.
8. The system shall include a chuck-to-platen quick lift function to separate the probes from the test sample during sample loading, unloading, or alignment. The quick lift separation shall be at least 9 mm and a fine adjustment separation shall be at least 38 mm.
9. The probe platen shall be a steel platen compatible with RF and DC micropositioners using magnetic, vacuum, or bolt-down mounting as applicable.
10. The probe station shall provide contact repeatability better than or equal to 1 μm by manual control.
11. The system shall include an optical microscope mounted on a manual microscope stage. The microscope stage shall provide at least 50 mm × 50 mm movement range and independent X and Y control.
12. The system shall include a microscope camera compatible with the optical microscope for viewing and documenting probe contact to device pads.
13. The optical microscope shall have 2X, 10X and 20X objectives.
14. The optical microscope shall have a magnification greater than or equal to 400X.
15. The optical microscope shall have a port for a CCD camera.
16. The optical microscope shall have illumination.
17. The system shall have a Digital Camera with at least 8 MP resolution with USB and HDMI outputs.
18. The system shall have a flat panel display at least 21” in dimension for the camera readout.
19. The system shall include four high precision DC micropositioners.
20. Each DC micropositioner shall provide micrometer-driven three-axis linear motion in X, Y, and Z.
21. Each DC micropositioner shall provide a travel range greater than or equal to 12.5 mm in X, Y, and Z.
22. Each DC micropositioner shall provide feature resolution better than or equal to 0.5 μm.
23. Each DC micropositioner shall be compatible with vacuum or magnetic mounting.
24. The DC probe holders shall be compatible with replaceable probe tips. Probe tip options shall include tungsten or equivalent conductive probe tips with tip diameters suitable for probing micron-scale pads.
25. The DC probe configuration shall support a minimum pad size of 25 μm × 25 μm.
26. The system shall include two RF micropositioners.
    1. Each RF micropositioner shall be compatible with RF probe heads and suitable for RF probing from DC up to at least 110 GHz.
    2. Each RF micropositioner shall provide travel range greater than or equal to 25 mm in X, Y, and Z.
    3. Each RF micropositioner shall provide feature resolution better than or equal to 2 μm.
    4. Each RF micropositioner shall include probe-head planarization adjustment with a planarization range of at least ±7.5° and resolution of 0.1° or better.
27. The system shall include two RF probe heads with suitable for DC to 40 GHz measurements.
28. The RF probe and cable set shall support low-loss RF measurement. For a DC to 40 GHz RF probe interface, insertion loss shall be less than 0.8 dB, and return loss shall be greater than 18 dB, or equivalent.
29. The system shall include all mechanical adapters, probe arms, probe holders, mounting hardware, and cables required to operate the requested configuration.
30. The system shall come with a quiet vacuum pump with a sound level of lower than or equal to 40 dB max @ 1 meter.

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 in this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.  Please note that to be considered for award under any official solicitation, the entity must be registered and “active” in SAM at the time of solicitation response.

• 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).

• Identify the equipment that your company sells that can meet the objectives addressed in the BACKGROUND section of this notice.  For each product recommended to meet the Government’s requirement, provide the following:
  • Manufacturer name
  • Model number
  • Technical specifications
  • If your company is not the manufacturer, provide information on your company’s status as an authorized reseller of the product(s)

• Describe performance capabilities of the product(s) your company recommends to meet the Government’s requirements.  Additionally, if there are other features or functions that you believe would assist NIST in meeting its objectives described above, please discuss in your response.
  • Discuss whether the equipment that your company sells and which you describe in your response to this notice may be customized to specifications and indicate any limits to customization.

• Identify any aspects of the NIST market research notice, including instructions, and draft minimum specifications in the BACKGROUND section you cannot meet and state why.  Please offer suggestions for how the market research notice and draft minimum specifications could be made more competitive.

• State whether the proposed equipment is manufactured in the United States and, if not, state the name of the country where the equipment is manufactured.

• Identify any plans/possibilities for changes in manufacturing location of the aforementioned equipment and provide relevant details, including timeline.

• For the NAICS code listed in this notice:

• • 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.

• • If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. 

• Describe services that are available with the purchase of the aforementioned equipment from your company such as installation, training, and equipment maintenance.

• Describe standard terms and conditions of sale offered by your company for the recommended equipment such as: delivery time after your company accepts the order; FOB shipping terms; manufacturer warranty (including details regarding nature and duration); if available, description(s) of available extended warranty; equipment setup and test; operator and service instruction manual(s); cleanup after installation; and if applicable, other offered services.  Provide a copy of manufacturer standard terms and conditions that typically relate to the sale of the specified equipment, if available.

• State whether your company offers facility renovation services related to installation of the recommended equipment at its delivery destination, if required per the NIST-identified minimum specifications, and provide description of said services.  Indicate if your company performs the facility renovation services or typically subcontracts the work to another company.  Indicate if your company would be interested in inspecting the intended installation site during the market research phase.

• State published price, discount, or rebate arrangements for recommended equipment and/or provide link to access company’s published prices for equipment and services. 

• If the recommended equipment and related services are available for purchase on any existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts against which NIST may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

• Identify any customers in the public or private sectors to which you provided the recommended or similar equipment.  Include customer(s) information: company name, phone number, point of contact, email address.

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

• State if you require NIST to provide additional information to improve your understanding of the government’s requirement and/or would like to meet with NIST representatives to discuss the requirement and the capabilities of the identified equipment.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact Junee Johnson junee.johnson@nist.gov  listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received 5 days prior to the response date. If the Contracting Officer determines that providing a written amendment to this notice to document question(s) received would benefit other potential respondents, the questions would be anonymized, and a written response to such question(s) would be provided via an amendment to this notice.

IMPORTANT NOTES

This notice is for market research purposes and should not be construed as a commitment by NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.  There is no solicitation available at this time.

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response.

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

Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s capability.

Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.

After a review of the responses received, a synopsis and solicitation may be published on GSA’s eBuy or SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to any such solicitation(s).

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