Microfocusing X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (NSWC IHEODTD) has a sole source requirement for one K-Alpha plus X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer with an Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy capability on a sole source basis to Thermo Electron North America LLC, 5225 Verona Road, Madison, WI 53711. This is the only complete system that meets the following technical capabilities, requirements and performance specifications as detailed below. A complete microfocusing X-ray Photoelectron system capable of High Resolution Monochromated XPS, Small Area XPS, XPS linescans, XPS chemical maps, and depth profiling from conductors and insulators as well as Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS) should be supplied and should have the following characteristics, as a minimum: Analysis chamber: Single piece precision-machined from Ni-Fe alloy to combine optimum magnetic field shielding with precision component alignment. Analysis chamber base pressure after baking and cooling must be guaranteed at 5 x 10-9 mbar or better for ultra high vacuum (UHV) surface analysis. The analysis chamber should be fitted with a turbomolecular pump with a suitable backing pump and auxiliary titanium sublimation pump (TSP). The TSP should comprise of 3 filaments. The TSP control should allow for the following firing options: auto-degas, timed-fire (operator programmed firing during experiment sequences) and a mode in which it is disabled during data acquisition. Sample manipulator: Should be fully automated and have at least 4 axes of movement, X, Y, Z and continuous azimuthal sample rotation. The sample holder and system configuration should allow for an analysis area of 60 mm x 60 mm and a maximum sample thickness of 20 mm. Sample mounting: The system must provide a variety of sample holders designed for routine and specialized sample mounting. At a minimum, the following are required: - At least eight multi-specimen mounting plates with minimum dimensions of 60 x 60 x 20 mm thick - Six mounting plate for powder samples with indentations for powders and troughs to prevent cross contamination. - One mounting plate for fiber samples allowing fibers to stretch across a void - Six sample -rotation holders allowing minimum dimensions of 30 mm diameter 15 mm thick - One mounting plate for use in combination with a rotation holder providing additional mounting space around the rotatable holder. - Sample holder allowing tilting of a sample in the range +/-90 with respect to the surface normal. This is required for Angle Resolved analysis. Minimum required sample dimensions for angle dependant analysis is 26mm x 5mm x 5mm thick - Sample holder allowing a bias voltage to be applied to the sample area to facilitate measurement of the work function of samples up to 5mm in thickness. The supplied holder must include a mounted gold foil standard for calibration. - Vacuum Transfer module, a sample holder allowing samples to be transferred under vacuum into the system. Samples can be prepared in an inert environment, put into the holder, pumped down (pump not included) and then transferred into the K-Alpha+ under vacuum. The supplied holder also includes a set of sample clips, and spare seals. Allows for a maximum specimen thickness 9 mm. Fast entry airlock (FEAL): This chamber should be made of aluminum and pumped using a turbo molecular pump and a suitable backing pump. The FEAL should be connected to the analysis chamber via an automated (low shock) gate valve. Transfer of the sample holder into the analysis chamber should be fully automated and integrated to the spectrometer's vacuum control software to preserve UHV conditions. A combination gauge should be supplied to measure the chamber pressure, and used to control the automatic sample transfer via the data system. A non-out-gassing sample must be transferred from the FEAL to the analysis chamber in less than 10 minutes from the start of pumping. X-ray Monochromator: This is required for high energy resolution XPS. The instrument must have excellent energy resolution for chemical state analysis and a guaranteed full width at half-maximum energy resolution on Ag 3d5/2 peak of 0.50 eV or better. In order to avoid damage to areas of sample not being analyzed the X-ray should produce a variable spot in the range of 30'm to 400'm. The X ray spot size selection should be continuously variable (5'm steps) from the smallest to largest spot. The monochromator must not have a window through which the X-rays pass before reaching the sample. Such a window would reduce the sensitivity of the instrument. The monochromator should include an electron suppression device to reduce the number of unwanted high energy electrons reaching the sample analysis position. The quartz crystal monochromator goniometer should be motorized for automated or remote access X-ray spot alignment. To minimize X-ray induced sample damage the large area X-ray spot should have a power of less than 75 watts. The monochromator control electronics and software should include auto-degassing and filament conditioning routines. Ultraviolet Photon Source for UPS: The system must be equipped with a high intensity ultraviolet photon source for Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS). This source must include two-stage differential pumping compatible with the system vacuum chamber/vacuum system. All differential pumping and valves should be automated an software controlled by the instrument data system. Two separate high precision gas admission valves for Helium I and Helium II must be equipped. The UV source power supply must be built into the system. Charge compensation: The system should provide excellent charge compensation on non-conductive samples even when analyzing small areas. A system based on a combination of low energy ions and electrons is required. The ions and electrons should be produced from a single source. A single mode of operation should provide optimum neutralization for all sample and experiment types. The flood control should include automated Ar gas handling. The spectrometer data system should include both automatic filament degas and conditioning routines. Ion Gun: An Ar ion gun capable of focusing down to a spot size of <=500 - m in lateral dimensions is required for performing depth profiling analysis. The ion gun must provide high performance for sample cleaning or depth profiling operating at the minimum voltage <=200 V and maximum voltage of at least 4KeV. At operating voltage of 200 V, the ion gun must produce at least 1 - A of beam current and a spot size of <= 1,000 - m. At operating voltage of 3 KeV, the ion gun must produce at least 3.5 - A of beam current and a spot size <=500 - m. All operating parameters, including the Ar gas pressure and effective beam sizes, must be under full control of the instrument control software. The ion gun must provide continuous long-term stability and sputter rate reproducibility. The data system must control all of the parameters of the ion gun and the gas handling. The system should include apertures and current measurement devices to support automated ion gun alignment routines. These apertures must be permanently mounted in the analysis chamber and always available to the user. The ion gun software should also support both automatic degas and filament conditioning procedures. Small Area XPS: A lateral resolution of 30 - m or better is required. In small area mode it must be possible to collect chemical maps generated by stage moving, or other means. Electron Analyzer: Should be of spherical sector type and fitted with a multi-channel detector with at least 128 channels for high sensitivity XPS and UPS. The detector should support a parallel 'snapshot' acquisition mode of operation for rapid data acquisition. Due to the need for high sensitivity at high spatial resolution, the instrument should be supplied with a large acceptance lens (> 60o), and have at least the following monochromated XPS performance: 1.0eV (FWHM) of the silver 3d5/2 with a peak height of 4,000,000 cps measured after removal of a linearly interpolated background using an X-ray spot size of 400 - m on a horizontal silver specimen. 1.0eV (FWHM) of the silver 3d5/2 with a peak height of 200,000 cps measured after removal of a linearly interpolated background using an X-ray spot size of 30 - m on a horizontal silver specimen. Both spot size and sensitivity should be determined with the sample normal parallel to the axis of the transfer lens. Specifications should be demonstrated using the anode power recommended for routine analysis at each spot size. Computer control: The data system must be capable of controlling and automatically recording the X ray spot size, all settings of the analyzer and transfer lens, all flood gun settings, and all settings of the ion gun. The data system must have full control of the sample stage for multi-point analysis, azimuthal and compucentric depth profiling, line scans and maps. Routines should also be included for full automatic spectrometer calibration, X-ray spot size measurement, ion gun alignment and source conditioning. To complement these routines, position indexed standards (Cu, Ag, Au) must be available at all times in the analysis chamber. The routines should have the capacity to align and prepare standard samples before acquiring data. System Form and Footprint: The overall footprint of the entire system (excluding chiller, backing pump, and data system) should be less than 1.80 m x 1.25 m. Electronic boards should designed for modular replacement and therefore be easily removed. All electronic boards should be mounted in fan-cooled, shielded enclosures. To reduce mains noise interference all electronics boards should be powered from DC 24V / 48V power supplies. The bake-out shielding should be integrated into the system housing without the need for additional baking tents or panels. All cables connected to the main body of the system should be designed to withstand the bake out temperatures (>120'C) allowing them to remain in place during the system bake out. Data system: The operating system should be Windows 10TM. The data system should include a comprehensive package of data acquisition and processing software for XPS, including depth profiling, line scans and maps. The data system should include routines for automatic data acquisition and reporting. Simple pasting of data, tables, charts, and images from the data system into Microsoft OfficeTM applications must be facilitated. Computer: This should be loaded with Windows 10TM and the XPS data system software. It should include a network card for easy networking, remote control of the XPS instrument and XPS data file transfer. An additional data system license for off line data processing over the network must be included. Sample Viewing and alignment: This is essential for small area XPS. The sample navigation tool should support several camera views to facilitate all sample navigation operations. To fulfil this requirement the following sample views are required. - A full sample platter view for sample to sample translation. - A real time magnified image of the sample giving a plan view of the sample. This view should have a maximum field of view of 6.0mm x 4.5mm. This camera should support digital zoom providing a magnification of x8. - A higher magnification microscope camera for accurate sample height setting. - It should be possible to provide precise alignment between all three camera views. All CCD camera outputs should provide direct feed into the spectrometer software allowing direct inclusion into data reports. - For best sample image contrast for all sample types both side and axial illumination should be provided. The spectrometer software should provide full control of illumination levels from both sources. Calibration and alignment: XPS data precision and accuracy is dependent on the quality and frequency of the spectrometer alignment and calibration. For this reason a software controlled automated approach provides the most consistent and convenient approach. To achieve this, the instrument must include permanently mounted standards and apertures inside the analysis chamber as well as software to acquire and process the data. At a minimum, the following standards must be provided mounted inside the analysis chamber: - Calibration samples: Cu foil, Ag foil, Au foil - Phosphorescent sample for X-ray spot alignment - Cu knife edge for X-ray spot size measurement - Six apertures for ion beam alignment and focusing The instrument should offer auto calibration for the following functions: - Energy scale linearity - Transmission function - X-ray spot size calibration - Ion gun modes tuning and alignment - Flood gun alignment - Electron lens optimization - Detector optimization Automation: XPS is considered to be a difficult technique that requires an expert operator to achieve the reliable results. The inclusion of automated features for sample handling, vacuum control and data acquisition allow a spectrometer to be operated in a multi user environment along with other analytical techniques. To meet these requirements the spectrometer should include the following functions. - Automated sample transfer. - Automated vacuum control and gas handling. - Automatic sample height adjustment. - Automatic data acquire for wide scan survey spectroscopy and high-resolution narrow scan data. - Automatic data interpretation and quantification - Automatic data reporting. Built In Application and knowledge viewer and database: In order to ensure successful analysis, the software of the system must contain a built-in knowledge database to aid in data interpretation. The knowledge viewer must contain a store of XPS information to offer advice on experimental considerations, and spectral interpretation. The knowledge viewer must offer access to a database of spectra, which can be opened in the system software, and used to help with peak fitting and chemical state quantification. The instrument is to be delivered, installed, and training provided within 60 days of issuance of contract. Please direct any questions or concerns to Samantha St. Clair at 301-744-6622 or samantha.stclair1@navy.mil. This will be a sole source procurement. The proposed contract action is for supplies or services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under authority of FAR 6.302. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, all proposals received within forty-five days (thirty days if award is issued under an existing basic ordering agreement) after date of publication of this synopsis will be considered by the government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. NAICS Code (334516); SB Size Standard (1,000 Employees); PSC Code (6640).