Attachment 1- Statement of Work FIB-SEM.docx

STATEMENT OF WORK

FIB/SEM for Integrated Semiconductor Metrology Workflows

MML / 643

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The CHIPS Metrology program develops and advances cutting edge metrology capabilities for members of the US semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. This National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted research program works with device manufacturers, tool vendors, materials suppliers, and other organizations to address critical metrology gaps to spur innovation within seven grand challenge areas. For more information on CHIPS Metrology, please visit https://www.nist.gov/chips/research-development-programs/metrology-program

CHIPS Metrology researchers within the Materials Measurement Science Division (MMSD) of the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) at NIST Gaithersburg require a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) instrument capable of performing a suite of customized measurements. This FIB/SEM instrument must be capable of traditional workflows including preparing samples for cross-sections, lamellas for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and needles for Atom Probe Tomography (APT); however, the primary use will extend these workflows using non-traditional stages and detectors. These extended workflows will accelerate critical metrologies for the semiconductor industry by enabling strain measurements via electron diffraction in the FIB/SEM, more precise location specific targeting, and more. A FIB/SEM with very specific stage, detector, and automation is required to meet these technical objectives.

II. SCOPE

The vendor must deliver one analytical instrument system meeting the specifications provided below. Additionally, the vendor must install the instrument as well as provide, training, warranty, and service.

III. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Line Item 0001 Description: FIB/SEM System Quantity: One analytical instrument system

1. Site Survey: NIST is considering two instrument installation locations within the Advanced Measurement Lab on NIST’s Gaithersburg, MD campus. The vendor must perform a site survey of the intended location to ensure the installation site meets site requirements for the instrument.

2. Basic System Components

2.1. Ga+ ion column

2.1.1. Spatial resolution better than 5 nm at 30 kV. Additional value will be given to vendors exceeding this requirement.

2.1.2. Accelerating voltage range must include 500 V through 30 kV

2.1.3. Probe current range at 30 kV must include 1 pA through 60 nA

2.1.4. Source lifetime must be guaranteed to exceed 1000 hours

2.1.5. Scanning system images must exceed 6 megapixels with a dwell time range including at least 50 ns to 10 µs

2.2. Electron column

2.2.1. Electron optics must be capable of operating in both immersion and field free modes.

2.2.2. Spatial resolution better than 0.6 nm at eucentric working distance on a bulk sample. Additional value will be given to vendors exceeding this requirement.

2.2.3. Spatial resolution better than 0.4 nm in STEM mode. Additional value will be given to vendors exceeding this requirement.

2.2.4. Spatial resolution better than 1.0 nm in beam deceleration mode with a landing energy of 1 kV

2.2.5. Probe current at sample must include the range of 1 pA through 50 nA

2.2.6. Accelerating voltage range including 500 V through 30 kV

2.2.7. Scanning system images must exceed 6 megapixels with a dwell time range including at least 50 ns to 10 µs

2.2.8. Externally controllable beam blanking capable of at least 5 MHz must be included

2.3. Detectors

2.3.1. In-chamber electron detector (Everhart Thornley type)

2.3.2. In-chamber ion detector

2.3.3. Multiple in-lens electron detectors that can be configured to simultaneously collect electrons with an adjustable energy distribution between the detectors. Additional value will be given for more capable in-lens detector systems (e.g. additional in-column detectors).

2.3.4. Insertable segmented back-scatter detector. Additional value will be given for systems offering more flexible BSE detection through segmented detector control.

2.3.5. Insertable segmented STEM detector with at least 4 annular segments (BF, DF1, DF2, HAADF). Additional value will be given for systems that offer more segments and additional control of the how the segments are grouped into imaging signals.

2.3.6. Pixelated STEM detector: The government anticipates vendors offering a TimePix based detector, but other options can be proposed. The detector must be at least 256 × 256 pixels, be capable of operating in event mode (e.g. counting individual electron hits) with energy and position information for each event being recorded. The detector must tolerate 30 kV direct beam electrons, although probe current can be limited within the specified probe current range specified above.

2.3.7. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer: An SDD based EDS with an active area of at least 100 mm2 must be included. The EDS detector must have a spectral resolution of 129 eV or better on the Mn Kα line. The EDS control system must offer scan control for mapping, including drift correction during mapping, and map stitching via stage moves controlled by the EDS software package. Additionally, the EDS software package must provide spectral analysis features included peak identification, quantification, and data exporting to formats that must include a non-proprietary format (e.g. HDF5, text, etc). The government anticipates vendors will meet this requirement with a 3rd party analytical detector, but other solutions may be acceptable. For 3rd party detectors, the EDS system must include a dedicated control PC.

2.4. Stage

2.4.1. The system must provide a double-tilt STEM holder to enable on zone axis measurements of samples. The double-tilt solution must:

2.4.1.1. Be compatible with included STEM and pixelated STEM detectors

2.4.1.2. Be compatible with a custom Direct Electron EBSD/TKD camera system

2.4.1.3. Have both tilt axes perpendicular to the electron beam optic axis

2.4.1.4. Provide at least ±5° tilt in both directions during STEM imaging at eucentric working distance. Additional value will be given to systems that allow greater than 180° of “β” tilt to enable thinning from both sides while preserving the ability to see both sides of the lamella and perform STEM measurements.

2.4.1.5. Double-tilt STEM holder samples must be compatible with the load-lock requirement. Specifically, loading samples onto the double-tilt holder must NOT require a chamber vent. An automatic load-lock compatible sub-stage transferring onto the bulk stage of the FIB could meet this requirement, or an entirely separate holder with an additional load lock could also meet this requirement.

2.4.2. The system must be equipped with an automated (e.g. motorized) sample load-lock system to enable fast sample exchanges while preserving vacuum integrity of the primary chamber. The system must allow a sample at atmosphere in the load lock to be loaded and ready for beam-on operations in less than three minutes.

2.4.3. The bulk stage must:

2.4.3.1. Include at least 75 mm of travel in X and Y direction

2.4.3.2. Include at least 20 mm of Z height control

2.4.3.3. Include a tilt range of −10° to 60°

2.4.3.4. Include continuous 360 deg rotation

2.4.3.5. All axes must be motorized and provide compusentric rotation

2.4.4. Load lock compatible sample holders must include:

2.4.4.1. Stub compatible holder normal operations (no pre-tilt)

2.4.4.2. Stub compatible holder for EBSD (pre-tilted)

2.4.4.3. Any sample holders required for automation capabilities listed below

2.4.4.4. Additional value with be given to vendors that offer a holder compatible with Cameca atom probe sample coupons.

2.5. Gas injection – The system must be equipped with following deposition capabilities and include deposition recipes:

2.5.1. Tungsten

2.5.2. Carbon

2.5.3. Insulator (SiO2)

2.5.4. Additional value will be given to vendors that offer Platinum deposition in addition to the required compositions above.

2.5.5. Additional value will be given to vendors that offer chemically enhanced carbon etching.

2.5.6. Additional value will be given to vendors that offer delivery of multiple gas chemistries through a single injection needle.

2.5.7. Additional value will be given to systems that offer motorized control of injection needle position including the ability to position the needles for specific ion and electron operations (e.g. electron and ion beam normal incidence stage tilts).

2.6. Manipulator

2.6.1. The system must be configured with an in-situ lift out extraction manipulator intended for TEM sample preparation.

2.6.2. The manipulator needle must provide motorized control in X, Y, Z, and rotation with the frame of reference of the translation axis being configurable (e.g. relative to the stage at the current stage tilt).

2.6.3. Manipulator needle exchanges and position calibrations must be able to be performed by NIST staff. Any items needed for NIST staff to perform the exchange must be included.

2.7. Sample Navigation – The system must include an in-situ navigation system. This requirement can be met with an in-chamber optical camera image with calibratable positions, or by tiling very low magnification SEM images. The sample navigation system must be an automatic option when loading a sample from the load lock and take less than 90 s to provide an overview of the entire 75 mm × 75 mm sample area.

2.8. Chamber Camera – System must include a chamber camera to monitor positioning of in-chamber components during operation.

2.9. Charge Neutralizer – Additional value will be given to vendors offering an electron flood gun for charge neutralization during milling operations of insulating samples.

2.10. Vacuum system – The system must be equipped with an automatically controlled vacuum system that includes control of the analysis chamber and any load lock compartments. The base vacuum pressure of the chamber must be below 1×10−9 mbar.

3. Automation Capabilities

3.1. Fully automatic TEM sample preparation workflows

3.1.1. Top-down samples – the system must be capable of performing automatic liftout and thinning of top-down samples to a final thickness below 100 nm. This includes electron and ion deposited protection, bulk trenching, release cutting (e.g. J or U cut), cleanup, lift-out, grid attach, high-kV thinning, and low kV polishing (down to 1 kV).

3.1.2. Inverted samples – the system must be capable of performing automatic single attach inverted workflows through grid attach.

3.1.3. The automation system must allow at least 16 sites to be configured for unattended operation.

3.1.4. The automation system must allow customization of required parameters (e.g. target lamella size, deposition parameters for protection and attachments, milling parameters for bulk trenching, release cutting, and thinning. These parameters must be able to be saved into a customized recipe.

3.2. FIB and SEM alignments – The automation system must be capable of performing “tune up” alignments of the FIB column without user intervention. Additional value will be given to vendors offering fully automatic (e.g. no user intervention) FIB column alignments for all accelerating voltages and probe currents that can be scheduled to run in the background without the need to load a specific alignment sample.

3.3. Manipulator needle conditioning – The automation system must include a fully automatic procedure for shaping the manipulator needle to a consistent state compatible with automation procedures including computer vision needle position recognition.

3.4. Low-level Scripting – The system must offer scripting control of core functionalities including beam positioning, scanning, detectors, patterning, image acquisition, and file saving. The government anticipates this will be a python interface, but other API options may meet this requirement. Vendors must include any available documentation of the features offered via the scripting interface.

3.5. High-level General Automation – Additional value will be given to vendors offering an automation development environment that includes high-level features including image recognition and integration with the control software of the FIB/SEM. This class of automation could be used for common FIB tasks including but not limited to TEM lamella but must offer more flexibility than dedicated TEM automation described above.

3.6. Large Area Mapping – The system must include software controls to enable mapping large areas of a sample using a tile and stitch approach. The software must allow multiple detector signals to be collected simultaneously and be stitched using at least one signal channel. Additionally, the system must offer automatic image functions including focus, stigmation, contrast/brightness. The large area mapping software must be capable of collecting images up to 1 gigapixel from a user specified region of interest. The software must allow importing of typical image formats (including but not limited to .jpg and .tif) from other sources for alignment and correlative imaging activities.

3.7. Serial Sectioning for Volumetric Rendering – The system must include software functionality to allow serial sectioning using alternating FIB milling and SEM imaging. This feature must include image registration fiducials and allow users to collect multiple detectors. Additionally, the system must allow integration of EDS x-ray signals into 3D reconstructions.

4. Software and Control Capabilities

4.1. The system must operate from a Windows PC running a graphical user interface.

4.2. The GUI must allow output files (e.g. images, movies, spectra, etc) to be saved in non-proprietary formats.

5. Facilities Requirements

5.1. Vendors must include a site preparation document detailing space, electrical, air, and gas requirements with proposals.

5.2. NIST will supply uninterruptable power supply protected electrical supply. NIST anticipates the tool to be powered by single phase 240 V, but vendors may specify other power requirements in the site preparation document.

IV. DELIVERABLES

V. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

All manufacturing will be completed at the contractor’s facility. Installation of the system and onsite training shall be performed at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD facility. Normal duty hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) with the exception of Federal holidays.

VI. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE/LEAD TIME

The period of performance is 5 years and 11 months.

VII. DELIVERY TERMS

Delivery shall be F.O.B Destination (or equivalent incoterms such as DDP) and shall occur in accordance with the delivery due dates provided in the above table.

FOB Destination means: The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery. The contractor shall deliver all Line Items to:

DOC/NIST

Shipping & Receiving 100 Bureau Dr.

Attn: Will Osborn, Building 217 Gaithersburg, MD 20899

VIII. INSTALLATION

The system shall be installed by the Contractor and meet contract specifications no later than 12 weeks after delivery. Installation, at a minimum, shall include uncrating/unpackaging of all equipment, rigging, set-up and hook-up of the system, demonstration of all specifications, and removal of trash. Onsite installation and demonstration shall be done at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD- Building 217.

IX. TRAINING

Vendor must include training credits for both on-site and remote training. At least 3 days of onsite training and 6 days of remote training must be included. The training topics are to be mutually agreed between the vendor and the NIST Technical Point of Contact (TPOC). Topics could include (but are not limited to) basic operation, automation, and scripting.

X. INSPECTION & ACCEPTANCE

In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in FAR 52.212-4, the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense.

Performance Tests:

1. Spatial Resolution – NIST will observe the collection of resolution test images and verify they meet the manufacturer’s specifications for both electron and ion optics.

2. Automatic FIB and SEM column alignments – The system must successfully complete automatic alignments of both columns. If the vendor offers fully unattended alignment, that feature will be tested as well. The system must be able to correctly tune the alignments after a 72 hour increment.

3. Unattended lamella preparation – The system will be required to prepare 10 top down preparations, including electron and ion beam deposited protection, through final thinning with 5 kV and 1 kV final polishing to a final thickness below 100 nm. The sample will be Si, and 9 of the 10 samples must be successful.

4. Un attended lamella preparation – The system will be required to prepare 10 inverted preparations through grid attach. 9 of the 10 samples must be successful.

NIST may choose at its discretion to forgo this part of acceptance testing.

A visual inspection of the equipment will be performed by the NIST Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to identify surface defects or any form of indication that any equipment was damaged during transport to NIST. The Government shall have sole discretion to require repair or replacement of damaged and/or nonconforming supplies at no cost to the Government. The Government at any time prior to acceptance shall reject the equipment due to defects and/or nonconformance. The vendor is responsible for latent defects discovered any time after final inspection. However, the extent of its liability shall be prorated over the useful life of the equipment.

Ownership of the equipment shall transfer to NIST upon acceptance by the Government.

The Government will test, inspect, and accept or reject the equipment within 2 weeks of vendor completion of installation of the equipment unless otherwise indicated above. The Government reserves the right to conduct quality assurance testing to confirm that a given instrument meets the manufacturer’s and/or the Government’s performance specifications. It is anticipated that the equipment will meet all manufacturer’s specifications and/or the Government’s performance specifications identified in the most recent operations and maintenance manual for each piece of equipment and/or in this document.

XI. WARRANTY

The contractor shall warranty the entire system for a period of a minimum of 5 years and shall be in accordance with terms in FAR 52.212-4. Warranty shall commence upon acceptance of the system by the Government.

XII. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Advance payment is not authorized. The Contractor shall be paid, in accordance with Net 30-day payment terms, upon receipt and acceptance of a proper invoice, in accordance with the following schedule:

NOTE: Partial shipments and partial invoices will not be accepted, unless otherwise requested and accepted by the Contracting Officer prior to award offer. Proposed milestone payment schedules shall be submitted with vendor’s response to the RFQ for consideration.

XIII. TRAVEL

The contractor shall be responsible for all travel expenses.

XIV. CONTRACTOR SUPPLIED MATERIALS

The contractor shall supply all parts, hardware, equipment, and labor required to perform the tasks listed.

XV. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

Safety: The Contractor employee must be responsible for knowing and complying with all installation safety prevention regulations. Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety, fire prevention, and waste disposal.

Security: NIST is a restricted campus. An identification badge is required for access for entry into buildings and is shown to the armed Security Police when entering the campus.

Regular Business Hours. Regular business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time, excluding Federal holidays and NIST closures.

Identification Badges: Contractor employees must comply with NIST identification and access requirements. Each Contractor employee must wear a visible identification badge provided by the NIST Security Office. The contractor shall provide personnel that pass required government background checks to be issued badges for work on site.

Vehicle Registration: All Contractor employees must register their vehicles with the NIST Security Office to gain access to the campus. A valid driver’s license, Government-furnished civilian ID, proof of insurance and current registration must be presented to the NIST Security Office, at which time a NIST vehicle pass will be issued. The pass must be displayed on the vehicle in accordance with NIST Security Office instructions.

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