THIS NOTICE CONSTITUTES AMENDMENT NO. 01 TO THE COMBINED SYNOPSIS/RFQ FOR NANOLAMINATE MULTI-LAYER SPUTTER DEPOSITION RETROFIT. Companies shall acknowledge all amendment(s) in their quote. This notice serves as the official amendment to subject synopsis/RFQ and a written amendment will not be issued.
The purpose of this amendment is to provide answers to questions that were received.
Question # 1: Will the company providing the equipment be performing the installation, verify that it meets spec, train operators?
Answer # 1: NASA employees and on site contractor technicians will install this equipment. The offeror should be willing to advise NASA employees via phone regarding installation questions and operational questions. We are experienced with vacuum hardware, power supplies and sources. We have limited experience with sputtering and with motion control programming, but can get local assistance in these areas.
NASA intends to verify compliance with the specification. Vendors should propose equipment that has a high probability of meeting our uniformity spec based upon modeling and measurements of their sources in comparable systems. NASA has metrology equipment (Taylor Hobson NanoStep II or Atomic Force Microscope) capable of performing accurate film thickness measurements.
Question # 2: Will the system be on site for install?
Answer # 2: The BAK-760 system must remain at MSFC at all times.
Question # 3: In order to guarantee a film thickness, it would be much easier to provide a new system with new parts that has been proven to reach uniformity <2%. It is much more difficult to install equipment in a huge chamber (sputtering distance only needs to be 4 inches) and work around existing equipment). Can we quote a new system as an "alternative". We can be price competitive and can demonstrate that the new equipment can be upgraded to the future set up.
Answer # 3: New systems can be quoted; however, we expect that our overall cost will be high compared with the retrofit and may exceed our budget limit. We must also consider the cost to install new utility feeds (power and water) and lab space. Our spec did not cover issues that would arise with a new system such as pump type, size, etc. In addition, NASA’s long term interest in NanoLaminates requires that they be manufacturable as very large structures (one to three meters in size or larger). We hope to transfer this technology to an existing 18-foot diameter chamber in the future. If a unique chamber is required to achieve good results, we have little hope of expanding this technology.
Question # 4: Can the planetary on the Balzer's system be removed? Or does it remain?
Answer # 4: In general, no. We want to leave the planetary in place as the chamber will alternate usage between an evaporative system and a sputter system on a week-to-week basis. If rapid changeover is possible, approximately one hour duration, then removing the planetary plate only is possible. We will not remove the rotation drive, optical monitor and film thickness monitor. The current plate has #10-32 holes spaced on a 1" grid pattern concentric with the center of rotation and may be able to support NanoLaminate hardware.
Question # 5: Thickness uniformity can easily be achieved using a rotating substrate and a confocal set up. A fixed substrate that is rotated in front of a source that is direct is questionable that it can reach <5% uniformity.
Answer # 5: Rotation of the substrate is allowable and is probably preferred. We still need to alternate materials on a layer by layer basis. By confocal, we hope that you mean that the three sources are tilted and aimed at a common point allowing the substrate to be coated by all three sources on an alternating basis without indexing.
Question # 6: ******
Answer # 6: ******
Question # 7: Our magetron sources do meet spec.
Answer # 7: The specification was intended to allow competition.
Question # 8: Is the sample heated?
Answer # 8: Definitely not.
Question # 9: Is the sample cooled?
Answer # 9: We were not planning to cool the sample. NanoLaminate layers are very thin and we hope to operate at low power levels. Excessive heating will cause our substrates, typically fused silica, to change figure; this could be a problem. Your advice is welcome.
The due date for receipt of offers is not extended.
Companies shall provide the information stated in the synopsis/RFQ posted on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS) on July 28, 2004. Documents related to this procurement are available over the Internet. These documents reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/MSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin;=62
