THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A SEPARATE WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS UNDER THE AUTHORIRTY OF FAR 13.5.
This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-95.
1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)
Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing, via email, to both the Contract Specialist ([email protected]) and the Contracting Officer ([email protected]). Questions shall be received no later than seven (7) calendar days after the issuance date of this solicitation.
All responses to the questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, on the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. (end of provision)
The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 333242 with a small business size standard of 1500 employees or less.
This acquisition is being competed under full and open competition.

BACKGROUND
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Etch System to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) user facility.

The system will be sited and used as a shared resource accessible to researchers from industry, academia, NIST, and other government agencies in the CNST NanoFab. The ICP System is a pattern transfer tool that uses chlorine and other chemicals to fabricate three-dimensional structures in varied substrate materials. Applications include fabricating nano-semiconductor and nano-photonic devices.

The NanoFab currently operates several ICP Systems that are heavily used to fabricate a wide variety of devices with different chemical etching gases and substrate materials. However, the current tools
cannot meet the requirements of a growing number of NanoFab users. More and more materials, such as metals, silicon, III-V compounds and diamond, are being etched in one shared ICP system. The mixing of the different etching processes in one system causes chemical cross-contamination process variation. To minimize the cross-contamination, improve the process control and increase the NanoFab's capacity to serve users, the NanoFab has a need for a new ICP System with Chlorine and other gas etching capability.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
As described above, this ICP system is a pattern transfer tool that uses an inductively coupled plasma to fabricate three-dimensional structures in III-V compound semiconductors and other materials with desired profiles, primarily using Chlorine and similar etching gases. This new ICP will be used to minimize the chemical cross-contamination, improve the process repeatability and add new NanoFab's etching process capabilities.

All items must be new. Prototypes, first articles, demonstration models, used, refurbished or otherwise developmental systems, will not be considered for award.
All offerors shall provide a firm fixed price quotation for the following line items:
LINE ITEM 0001: Quantity One (1) Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Etch System to include the following components and shall meet or exceed all the specifications identified for each component.