The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Allwin 21 Corporation, 220 Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, CA, 95037-2803, for the purchase of an Allwin AW-1008 Downstream Photoresist Asher and Descum System for use in the NIST Physical Measurement Lab (PML) Nanofab. The statutory authority for this sole source acquisition is FAR 13.106-1(b) by the authority of FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items.

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 System is a photoresist removal tool that uses a remote oxygen plasma to remove photoresist at a controlled rate while eliminating substrate damage from energetic ions. The processes required to completely strip photoresist from a wafer (ashing) versus removing a small amount to clear any residue prior to etching (descum) operate at different temperatures. A lamp-based heating system is required to ensure seamless transition between the two processes ensuring stable and repeatable process temperatures.

There are two technologies used in downstream asher and descum systems to control substrate temperatures. First, a wafer chuck based resistive heater provides heat to the surface the wafer sits on during processing and transfers heat to the substrate by contact. Due to the mass of the heaters and the mass of the wafer chuck, this type of heater takes a long time to change temperature and become stable again. In addition, the heat transfer efficiency can be influenced by the type of wafer and its contact with the wafer chuck. This technology is best suited for systems that will run dedicated processes and results in inconsistent processing and long change times between processes which is not satisfactory to the NanoFab User Facility. The second, and preferred technology, is a lamp based infrared heater system that provides heat to the substrate on demand.  Since only the substrate is heated, the low mass responds quickly and there is no memory effect between wafers which enables rapid temperature changes. Therefore, the lamp-based technology provided by the Allwin21 AW-1008 is critical to supporting the required processes in a single system.

Extensive market research has been completed and no other commercial systems that incorporate a lamp-based heating system can be identified.

Allwin 21 Corporation is the OEM manufacturer of this equipment and does not sell through resellers or distributors.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 333242 and the size standard is 1,500 employees. No solicitation package will be issued.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all responsible sources interested may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 12:00 p.m. Eastern on January 27, 2021. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected] . No telephone requests will be honored.

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition 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 in the future.