The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors that are capable of providing silicon photomultipliers for a scintillator based neutron proportional counter.


The Research Facility Operations group at the NIST Center for Neutron Research has been engaged in a large development project to develop an ultrathin neutron detector as part of a larger project to develop and energy-analyzing neutron detector.

The ultrathin sensor uses 6LiF:ZnS(Ag) plastic scintillator as the neutron converter. Scintillation light could be conducted out of the scattering plane into photosensors using wavelength shifting fiber optics. The photosensors selected for this application are silicon photomultipliers. These photosensors are inexpensive, use low bias voltages (< 100V), and are insensitive to the magnetic fields which are expected to be used by many sample environments on this spectrometer.

NIST is particularly interested in silicon photomultipliers which have a following characteristics:

• Packaging
o Active area 3 mm x 3 mm
o Total area less than 3.2 mm × 3.2 mm
o TSV (through-silicon via) surface mount package

• Sensitivity
o Peak sensitivity at or near 470 nm
o 50% Photodetection efficiency at 420 nm
o Microcell recovery time less than 80 ns

• Stability
o Dark count rates less than 200 kHz/mm2
o Temperature stability of breakdown voltage < 25 mV/˚C
o Crosstalk between pixels less than 25% at 5V over breakdown voltage

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and specifications are developed for the instruments that can meet NIST's minimum requirements, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a Purchase Order. If at least two qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, then any competitive procurement that resulted would be conducted as a small business set-aside.

NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large, foreign, and small businesses. Small businesses are defined under the associated NAICS code for this effort, 334516, as those domestic sources having 500 employees or less. Please include your company's size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.

Companies that manufacture horizontal Diffusion/Oxidation/LPCVD furnaces are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to [email protected] no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.

The report should include achievable specifications and any other information relevant to your product or capabilities.

Also, the following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:

1. Name of the company that manufactures the system components for which specifications are provided.

2. Name of company(s) that are authorized to sell the system components, their addresses, and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address).

3. Indication of number of days, after receipt of order that is typical for delivery of such systems.

 4. Indication of whether each instrument for which specifications are sent to [email protected] are currently on one or more GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts and, if so, the GSA FSS contract number(s).

5. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research.

Point of Contact
Lynda Roark, Contracting Officer, Phone (301) 975-3725, Fax (301) 975-8753, Email [email protected]

 

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