68-5061-16_Technical_Specifications.docx

SPECIFICATIONS FOR

OXIDE MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (MBE) SYSTEM

1.0 Scope

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has a requirement for a commercially-available Oxide Molecular Beam Epitaxy (Oxide MBE) System based on a standard off-the-shelf design to be installed NRL, Washington, DC 20375. No new chamber designs requiring major customization will be acceptable. This Oxide MBE system will be used to deposit state-of-the-art thin-film coatings of oxide-based epitaxial or amorphous materials onto crystalline wafers or substrates under high vacuum conditions including 1x10-6 Torr to 1x10-4 Torr oxygen background pressure. The subject Oxide MBE system must be physically connected to the left side of NRL’s existing VG V80H UHV Preparation (Preparation) chamber as a replacement epitaxial growth chamber, and be configured to permit routine transfer of substrates from the existing customized ScientaOmicron PRO-75 MBE system (PRO-75) mounted on the right side of the Preparation chamber. The offeror of a proposed Oxide MBE system in response to these requirements (offeror) should provide all system CAD drawings, results of calculations using physical models, and experimental data necessary to demonstrate the offeror's ability to satisfy these requirements to NRL with their proposal. Used equipment or components are not acceptable unless otherwise specified. Only commercially-available equipment and components are acceptable. The Oxide MBE system and components must meet or exceed the following minimum specifications:

2.0 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) System

This system must be composed of an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber that is designed for MBE. The system must have an epitaxy-side down (wafer horizontal) deposition geometry. The system must have 10 each 4.5" outside diameter (OD) Con-Flat (CF) effusion cell ports and all effusion cell ports must have the same 40-degree tilt-angle arrangement with respect to the wafer normal. Corresponding source shutters must be mounted on individually-demountable 4.5” OD CF flanges. The system must be designed for uniform deposition of materials on up-to 3" OD substrates. In particular, the total thickness variation (TTV) across the central 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3” wafer must be less than 2%. (TTV = 100% * (maximum film thickness minus the minimum film thickness) / mean film thickness.) The substrate must be mounted in a refractory metal holding ring which is physically compatible with the 90 mm diameter V80H design. The heating stage must be capable of heating a 3” OD silicon substrate to a minimum of 1000 °C real surface temperature. The uniformity and temperature capability of the proposed system should be demonstrated by evidence submitted with the offeror's proposal.

The system must attach to an existing combined PRO-75 MBE and VG V80H Preparation chamber system and permit the transfer of V80H-compatible wafer mounts to-and-from the existing and the proposed Oxide MBE systems without breaking vacuum or changing wafer mounts. A “wobblestick” can be used for wafer mount manipulation, but the use of a “transfer arm” is not permitted due to laboratory space constraints. To minimize the system footprint, the use of an adapter vacuum chamber between the existing and proposed MBE systems is unacceptable. The wafer transfer system for the proposed Oxide MBE system must use the existing Preparation chamber transfer track and trolley. Modifications to the existing transfer trolley are permitted provided that the modifications permit routine transfer of V80H-compatible wafer mounts to- and from- both MBE systems. The offeror shall perform any necessary modifications to the existing trolley. The offeror must include the cost of any required modifications in its proposal for this line item.

The ability to transfer a wafer to the Oxide MBE chamber from the V80H trolley system must demonstrated by evidence submitted with the offerer's proposal.

The system must be designed to use effusion cells that are dimensionally interchangeable with the in-vacuum length (326 mm) and in-vacuum outside diameter (up to 62 mm) of the existing PRO-75 MBE so that commercial and compact electron-beam evaporators and effusion cells can be used either in the proposed Oxide MBE system or in the existing PRO-75 MBE system (to minimize spare parts and spare equipment needed).

2.1 Vacuum Chamber

2.1.1 The MBE vacuum chamber must be constructed of 304-series stainless steel (SS) using industry-standard ultra-high vacuum fabrication techniques. It must include at least one liquid nitrogen (LN2)-cooled cryoshroud, designed to cool the area around the effusion cells and around the substrate manipulator. A LN2-cooled cryoshroud for a titanium sublimation pump (TSP shroud) must also be supplied. The TSP shroud should be mounted on a separate high-conductance UHV pumping port outside of the line-of-sight of deposition volume.

2.1.2 Vacuum requirements. The Oxide MBE chamber must reach a minimum pressure of 5x10-11 Torr within 48 hours after bakeout with LN2 cooling when pumped by the turbo-molecular pump specified in 2.1.3 below. The system must have no detectable leaks when it is checked with a helium leak detector with a sensitivity of at least of 2x10-10 Torr-l/s, or with a quadrupole residual gas analyzer (RGA) with a sensitivity of at least 2x10-12 Torr (for example an SRS RGA200 system equipped with a CEM electron multiplier). The RGA spectrum must have no peaks over 5x10-12 Torr for AMU/q greater than 44.

2.1.3 The UHV pump supplied with the Oxide MBE chamber must be of the turbo-molecular (turbopump) type. The turbopump must be a Pfeiffer/Adixen ATH 1603 M pump or equivalent. The turbopump must be compatible with high pressures of oxygen (up to 1x10-4 Torr). A dry pump specifically designed to minimize particle generation is required to serve as a foreline backing pump for the system. The dry pump must be an Edwards nXDS 10i scroll pump or equivalent. The turbopump must have magnetic-levitation bearings. The turbopump system must be configured with an automatic vent valve to safely vent and spin down the pump during shutdown and emergency power outages. The rated N2 pumping speed of the turbo pump must be at least 1400 liters/s, the rated N2 compression ratio must be greater than 108, the rated N2 throughput at full speed must be at least 12 Torr l/s, and it must use a 12" OD CF (DN 250 CF) or larger CF flange. (Serial turbopump proposals using two smaller pumps in series are not acceptable.) No oil- or grease-lubricated bearings are permitted in the high-vacuum side of the pump. The dry backing pump must be appropriately sized to handle the oxygen gas load. The UHV pump must be supplied with all necessary power supplies, controllers, wiring, protection screens, oil or grease for the low-vacuum side bearings, and plumbing necessary for turn-key operation. The foreline pump must be supplied with all necessary power supplies, controllers, wiring, traps, valves, and plumbing necessary for turn-key operation. The offeror must specify the brand and model of the turbomolecular pump and the dry backing pump proposed in its proposal.

2.1.4 Ports. As a minimum, the Oxide MBE vacuum chamber must have the following dedicated ports with UHV CF flanges. All of the indicated flanges below must be blanked off with corresponding CF blanks unless indicated otherwise. All of the flanges must be made from 304-series SS, and all of the mounting hardware must be made from industry-standard SS:

2.1.4.1 At least ten (10) each 4.5" OD CF symmetrically arranged ports and flanges (as described in section 2.0) for effusion cells as specified in section 2.0.

2.1.4.2 At least ten (10) each 4.5” OD CF flanges for effusion cell shutter ports. (One port for each port supplied in 2.1.4.1)

2.1.4.3 One (1) each 6.0” OD CF main viewport port, with glass viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.4 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) gun port and magnetic shielding cone to minimize deflection of RHEED beam by electron beam evaporators (EBE).

2.1.4.5 Two (2) each 2.75” OD CF Quadrupole Residual Gas Analysis (RGA) ports. One port shall be in the growth chamber area, one port shall be out of the line-of-site deposition area.

2.1.4.6 One (1) each 6.0” OD CF RHEED screen port with, glass viewport, shutter, and including long mounting studs for installation of magnetic shielding cone to minimize deflection caused by EBE magnetic fields.

2.1.4.7 One (1) each 12.0” OD or larger CF main UHV pumping port for turbomolecular pump.

2.1.4.8 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF rough pumping manifold port.

2.1.4.9 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF nude ionization gauge port for system pressure measurements.

2.1.4.10 One (1) each 8.0” OD CF UHV sample transfer port to connect to the Preparation chamber. The centerline of this port must be approximately 47.5” (approximately 120 cm) above the finished floor. No changes to the Preparation chamber and PRO-75 sample transfer port height above the finished floor will be accepted.

2.1.4.11 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF wobblestick port.

2.1.4.12 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF illuminator viewport with viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.13 One (1) each 10” OD CF substrate manipulator port and corresponding 10” OD CF installation nipple.

2.1.4.14 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF titanium sublimation pump (TSP) port on the corresponding LN2-cooled cryoshroud. Vacuum Barrier-style vacuum-insulated LN2 fittings are required for the TSP shroud.

2.1.4.15 One (1) each 2.75” OD or larger CF Quartz Crystal Monitor (QCM) port. This port must be designed to permit installation of a retractable QCM as discussed in paragraph 3.7 below. This port may be integrated into an 8” OD CF or larger port for potential installation of a compact load lock chamber instead (for potential temporary stand-alone operation of the Oxide MBE chamber).

2.1.4.16 Five (5) each or more 2.75" OD CF substrate monitoring ports mounted on a 12” OD CF (DN 250 CF) flange at the bottom of the chamber. These ports must configured to symmetrically surround a single central, normal incidence substrate pyrometer viewport and all be focused on the center of the substrate.

2.1.4.17 Two (2) each or more 4.5" OD CF side-mounted EBE "sniffer" ports. These ports must be designed to have a direct line-of-sight view of an EBE so that the exiting flux can be monitored when the shutter is open.

2.1.4.18 One (1) each or more auxiliary pumping port with 12" or larger OD CF flange to permit the future addition of one or more additional UHV pumps.

2.1.4.19 Two (2) each 2.75" OD CF ellipsometry ports.

2.1.4.20 Two (2) each 2.75" OD CF atomic absorption ports.

2.1.4.21 One (1) each 6” OD CF RHEED-TRAXS port. Shipped with CF viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.22 One (1) each 6” OD CF off-normal band-edge thermometry system viewport. This port should also be usable instead as a compact e-beam evaporator port.

2.1.4.23 One (1) each 10” OD CF (DN 200 CF) side-mounted EBE port configured for installation of a commercially available 6 x 8 cc linear multi-pocket EBE system.

2.1.4.24 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF or larger port for retractable beam flux monitoring (BFM) ion gauge head with nearby dedicated SS support mounts.

2.1.4.25 One (1) each 4.5” OD CF side-mounted upward-looking viewport to permit visual observation of the substrate during film growth with viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.26 One (1) each 4.5” OD CF side-mounted radial-looking viewport to permit visual observation of the BFM and QCM sensor heads with viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.27 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF side-mounted radial-looking QCM mounting port with nearby dedicated SS support mounts with viewport and shutter installed.

2.1.4.28 Three (3) each 2.75” OD CF top-mounted sniffer ports directed to have a line of sight view of 3 separate effusion cells when the effusion cell shutter is open. Viewports and shutters installed.

2.1.4.29 Three (3) each 4.5” OD CF top-mounted viewports directed to have a line-of-sight view of the side-mounted 6x8 EBE hearth, into the compact e-beam evaporator hearth if installed in 6” the OD port described in 2.1.4.22, and into an effusion cell port when the corresponding shutters are open, respectively. Viewports and shutters installed.

2.1.5 Included Hardware. The system must include the following hardware, installed (unless the physical extent is such that it interferes with the system shipping container or packing materials):

2.1.5.1 Glass CF viewports and viewport shutters for items previously mentioned in section 2.1.4.

2.1.5.2 One (1) each 2.75” OD CF wobblestick for wafer transfer to and from the substrate manipulator and transfer trolley. The end-effector shall be a spring-loaded jaw that can grab and hold a V80H-style wafer mount by the edge without the user continuously holding the wobblestick.

2.1.5.3 One (1) each 6.0” OD CF main viewport and viewport shutter.

2.1.5.4 One (1) each LED lamp for use with 2.1.4.12.

2.1.5.5 One (1) each 6" manual UHV SS gate valve (8.0” OD CF flanges) with metal bonnet seal and Viton O-ring seal to isolate the Oxide MBE chamber from the Preparation chamber. The valve must be bakeable to 200 °C.

2.1.5.6 One (1) each 8” OD CF port aligner to permit accurate alignment of the wafer transfer trolley with the substrate manipulator. Must be able to lock the position in place and keep the systems accurately aligned. (The Preparation chamber is on heavy-duty casters.)

2.1.5.7 One (1) each 10.0” or larger pneumatic UHV gate valve (DN 250 CF / 12.0" OD CF flanges) with metal bonnet seal, and Viton O-ring (or vulcanized) seal to isolate the UHV pump from the Oxide MBE chamber. The UHV gate valve must be a VAT 108-series pneumatic valve or equivalent. The valve must be bakeable to 200 °C (exclusive of solenoid valve and indicator).

2.1.5.8 One (1) each 2.75” OD SS CF metal sealed chamber rough pumping valve and associated hardware to connect to the existing Preparation chamber roughing manifold.

2.1.6 Vacuum gauging.

2.1.6.1 The system must provide a UHV nude ionization gauge to monitor chamber pressure conditions. All cabling for the controller must be provided. An acceptable ion gauge controller is an EpiMAX PVCi or PVCX controller or equivalent. The controller must meet or exceed the following minimum specifications: a) have electrometers capable of measuring and displaying pressures below 1x10-11 Torr for the Oxide MBE chamber and the flux monitoring Bayard-Alpert type UHV ionization gauges. b) have adjustable sensitivity of 3/Torr to 50/Torr. c) have the ability to switch filaments of dual-filament gauges without changing the gauge wiring. d) provide an analog output which is logarithmic with pressure at 1 V/decade with 0 - 10 V full scale range. e) provide a serial communications output for reading the system pressure with a PC, f) have user-controllable display units (Torr, mbar, Pascal). g) have “soft-start” emission current control. and h) include user-selectable e-beam degas power capabilities. The offeror should specify the brand and model of the UHV gauge and the controller proposed in its proposal.

2.1.6.2 The offeror must provide a retractable BFM including a nude UHV gauge head for BFM measurements. The controller must meet the same specifications as listed in section 2.1.6.1. The BFM must be positionable directly under the center of the substrate (with the main shutter closed) and retract fully to protect it from unintentional deposition of fluxes. The minimum travel acceptable travel is 250 mm.

2.1.7 Bakeout system. The Oxide MBE system must include all necessary heaters, thermocouple, temperature and time controllers, and an insulated enclosure to permit uniform-temperature bakeout of the Oxide MBE chamber at temperatures up to 200 °C for at least 72 hours. The insulated enclosure must be customized to permit bakeout of the Oxide MBE system without baking the Preparation chamber.

2.2 Sample Manipulator

The sample manipulator must be configured with a sample stage to hold a 90 mm OD refractory metal wafer holder of the V80H design and to allow transfer of the wafer holder to- and from- the Preparation chamber. It must also provide continuous azimuthal rotation for improved thickness uniformity, and provide a main shutter to protect the sample from incident fluxes. Offerors should submit a set of photographs or drawings of the manipulator design which illustrate the proposed transfer of the V80H style wafer mount to the manipulator with their proposal.

2.2.1 Substrate size. The sample stage must be designed to hold substrate wafers up to a 3" OD and be able to accommodate other various-sized smaller pieces when mounted in appropriate compatible mounts.

2.2.2 Rotation. The stage must be capable of continuous rotation around the sample normal axis and must be controllable by the use of computer control. Rotation speed is to be continuously adjustable from 0 - 60 RPM, minimum, and operate during MBE deposition processes. The rotation must also be manually adjustable in fine increments (better than 0.5-degree) to observe RHEED diffraction patterns and for alignment during wafer transfer.

2.2.3 Heat shielding. The manipulator must incorporate heat shielding made of UHV-compatible molybdenum-free refractory materials to protect the substrate heater from unintended deposition of materials, protect any rotary bearings and hook-up wiring, and to minimize heat loss from the substrate heater. No molybdenum parts are permissible in the hot zone.

2.2.4 Sample transfer. The stage must accept transfer of the sample wafer mount to- and from- an existing V80H trolley and track assembly using a wobblestick. The use of at-most a single transfer tool to pick up the wafer mount from the V80H trolley and insert it into the substrate manipulator and to perform the reverse operation is required for reliable operation and to minimize the system footprint.

2.2.5 Substrate heater. The substrate heater should be based on a silicon carbide heating element suitable for use in an oxygen-rich vacuum environment with oxygen partial pressures up to 1x10-4 Torr. Wire filament heating elements are not acceptable. The heating element must be able to routinely and uniformly heat a 3” OD silicon wafer to at least 1000 °C (real substrate temperature) in an oxygen partial pressure of 2x10-5 Torr without damage to the heater or any other component of the Oxide MBE system. It must include a fixed Type-C thermocouple to monitor the heater temperature. The offeror should demonstrate that the proposed heater can meet these specifications by submitting evidence with its proposal.

2.2.6 Shutter. Sample isolation from the source material fluxes must be achieved by a computer-controllable substrate shutter with a blade fabricated from oxygen- and UHV-compatible refractory materials. The shutter must not block the RHEED beam or the RHEED diffraction pattern.

2.2.7 The wafer holder stage assembly must be groundable to minimize charging effects. A substrate bias capability should be offered as an option.

2.3 Equipment Racks and Electronics

The system must include all necessary power supplies, pump control units, bakeout temperature control units, ion gauge control units, shutter control units, and substrate rotation and manipulator control units for the preceding items in mounted in standard electronics racks. Two each, standard “19-inch” 43U high (or taller) electronics racks, wired into the system power distribution hardware are also required.

2.4 MBE Deposition Requirements

The system must be capable of in-situ deposition of oxide-based films on semiconductor substrates. The system must be designed to be able to work with high and low temperature effusion sources, gas sources, and compact e-beam sources mounted in effusion cell ports. The Oxide MBE deposition system design must be configured as follows:

2.4.1 The Oxide MBE chamber design must have demonstrated its capability for depositing films of uniform thickness. In particular, the total thickness variation (TTV) of either GaAs or AlAs, GaN, or deposited nitride or oxide film thickness across the central 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3” wafer must be less than 2%. (TTV = 100% * (maximum film thickness minus the minimum film thickness) / mean film thickness.) The offeror must demonstrate that the proposed chamber design can meet these specifications by submitting evidence (measured or modeled data based on the actual system geometry) with its proposal.

2.4.2 Oxygen Source. NRL may provide an RF plasma source, autotuner and a 600 W RF power supply for use with the Oxide MBE system. The manufacturer of the RF plasma source and autotuner is SPECS/Oxford Applied Research. The manufacturer of the RF power supply is T&C Power Conversion. The offeror may propose to provide an oxygen plasma source, autotuner, and RF power supply as options.

2.4.3 All in-vacuum growth components and systems supplied as part of this MBE system must be compatible with oxygen service at elevated temperatures (substrate temperatures up to a maximum of 1000 °C and simultaneous oxygen background pressures up to 2x10-5 Torr). No molybdenum metal parts should be present in any hot zone of the system. If molybdenum parts are required for any mandatory or proposed optional items, the offeror must specify where those parts are present and give NRL the option of specifying a different material and an explanation of any limitations imposed by changing the material.

3.0 OPTION ITEMS

NRL may purchase none, some, or all of the following optional items.

3.1 Optional UHV Pumping Configurations:

The offer may propose a higher-pumping speed, larger-mounting flange, lower-base pressure, higher throughput, or otherwise potentially more advantageous UHV turbopump to replace, or be used in addition to, the turbopump listed in section 2.1.3. The pump must be suitable for Oxide MBE with oxygen background pressures up to 10-4 Torr. An acceptable optional turbopump replacement is the Pfeiffer/Adixen ATH 2303 M having similar characteristics to the ATH 1603 M, but with increased N2 pumping speed to 2150 l/s, or equivalent pump. The pump manufacturer and model must be specified. If proposed as an additional UHV pump, the quoted price must include all necessary ancillary equipment (pneumatic gate valves, controllers, backing pumps (if any), modifications to the bakeout shrouds (if any), etc.) for turn-key operation of the pump. If proposed as a replacement pump, the quoted price must include all necessary ancillary equipment or changes for turn-key operation of the pump.

3.2 Aluminum Effusion Source

3.2.1 The aluminum effusion source will be used to evaporate aluminum and to direct a flux to the sample stage to provide material for deposition of aluminum oxide and related materials. The design of the effusion cell must be compatible with the existing PRO-75 MBE system as discussed in paragraph 2.0 above and compatible with Oxide MBE.

3.2.1.1 The aluminum beam diameter at the substrate must be sufficiently broad and uniform to give better than 5% total thickness variation (TTV) across the center 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3" OD substrate. The offeror should demonstrate that the proposed aluminum beam diameter can meet these specifications by submitting evidence with its proposal.

3.2.1.2 The effusion cell must be specifically designed for aluminum, including incorporating a "cold lip" to prevent molten aluminum from creeping out of the crucible.

3.2.1.3 The aluminum effusion cell must be constructed with refractory materials which permit UHV-operation at temperatures up to 1400 °C.

3.2.1.4 The aluminum effusion cell must incorporate at least one Type-C thermocouple to monitor the temperature the cell.

3.2.1.5 The aluminum effusion cell must incorporate water-cooling to minimize the heat load on the cryoshrouds.

3.2.1.6 The aluminum effusion cell must be able to evaporate aluminum in a background oxygen environment to produce aluminum oxides with thickness of 1 to 200 nm with total thickness variations (TTV) of less than 5% over the center 2.75" diameter of rotated 3” diameter substrates. The source must be capable of operation at pressures up to 2x10-5 Torr oxygen background pressure while providing a flux high enough to grow their respective oxides at rates of 0.01 to 1.0 nm/s. The effusion source must include a spare crucible. The crucible design must meet the uniformity specifications, and the crucible material must be compatible with the source material and the rest of the Oxide MBE system. The offeror should supply data with its proposal to support their choice of effusion cell and crucible which demonstrates uniformity and compatibility. The awardee shall supply all necessary thermocouple and power cables and connectors to the effusion cell. The thermocouple and power cables and connectors must be bankable to at least 200 °C. The cable lengths should be 8 m (25 feet) to reach the stand-alone electronics racks.

3.3 Either Gallium or Ga2O3 Effusion Source

The offeror should offer their expert opinion as to which source would be better for deposition of high-quality Ga2O3 thin films and why.

3.3.1 An effusion source will be used to evaporate either gallium (Ga) or Ga2O3 and to direct a flux to the sample stage to provide material for deposition of gallium oxide and related materials. The design of the effusion cell must be compatible with the existing PRO-75 MBE system as discussed in paragraph 2.0 above.

3.3.1.1 The Ga or Ga2O3 beam diameter at the substrate must be sufficiently broad and uniform to give better than 5% total thickness variation (TTV) across the center 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3" OD substrate. The offeror should demonstrate that the proposed beam diameter can meet these specifications by submitting evidence with its proposal.

3.3.1.2 The effusion cell must be specifically designed for Ga or Ga2O3, including incorporating a "hot lip" to minimize accumulation of Ga at the mouth of the crucible (if a Ga effusion cell is proposed), or through the use of a high-temperature effusion cell design appropriate for Ga2O3.

3.3.1.3 The Ga effusion cell must be constructed with refractory materials which permit UHV-operation at temperatures up to 1400 °C, while the Ga2O3 effusion cell must permit UHV operation at temperatures up to 1900 °C.

3.3.1.4 The effusion cell must incorporate at least one Type-C thermocouple to monitor the temperature the cell.

3.3.1.5 The effusion cell must incorporate water-cooling to minimize the heat load on the cryoshrouds.

3.3.1.6 The effusion cell must be able to evaporate Ga or Ga2O3 in a background oxygen environment to produce gallium oxides with thickness of 1 to 200 nm with total thickness variations (TTV) of less than 5% over the center 2.75" diameter of rotated 3” diameter substrates. The source must be capable of operation at pressures up to 2x10-5 Torr oxygen background pressure while providing a flux high enough to grow their respective oxides at rates of 0.01 to 1.0 nm/s. The effusion source must include a spare crucible. The crucible design must meet the uniformity specifications, and the crucible material must be compatible with the source material and the rest of the Oxide MBE system. The offeror should supply data with its proposal to support their choice of effusion cell and crucible which demonstrates uniformity and compatibility. The awardee shall supply all necessary thermocouple and power cables and connectors to the effusion cell. The thermocouple and power cables and connectors must be bankable to at least 200 °C. The cable lengths should be 8 m (25 feet) to reach the stand-alone electronics racks.

3.4 Compact EBE Source

3.4.1 A compact EBE source will be used to evaporate refractory materials and to direct a flux to the sample stage to provide material for deposition of metal oxides and related materials. The design of the compact EBE source must be compatible with the existing PRO-75 MBE system as discussed in paragraph 2.0 above and the hearth design must be customizable for the port tilt-angle. The compact EBE must be designed to be able to be mounted in one of the 10 effusion cell ports (4.5” OD CF flange). The compact EBE must be a MBE Kompnenten EBVV 63-4 or equivalent.

3.4.1.1 The flux beam diameter at the substrate should be sufficiently broad and uniform to give better than 5% total thickness variation (TTV) across the center 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3" OD substrate. The offeror should demonstrate that the proposed beam diameter can meet these specifications by submitting evidence with its proposal.

3.4.1.2 The EBE source must be specifically designed for EBE of refractory materials including Ti in an MBE system.

3.4.1.3 The EBE source must be constructed with refractory materials which permit UHV-operation at power levels of at least 3 kW.

3.4.1.4 The EBE source must incorporate its own computer-controllable shutter mounted on the same mounting flange as the EBE itself.

3.4.1.5 The EBE source must incorporate water-cooling to minimize the heat load on the cryoshrouds.

3.4.1.6 The offeror shall supply all necessary power supplies, rate controllers, signal and power cables and connectors to the EBE. Ferrotec Carrera power supplies, Ferrotec filament power supplies, and Ferrotec Genius EBE controllers are required for commonality with our PRO-75 EBE, our EBE software control infrastructure, and to minimize spare component requirements.

3.5 Oxygen RF Plasma Source

3.5.1 An RF plasma source mounted on an effusion cell port will be used to direct an excited beam of oxygen (O*) to the sample stage to provide material for deposition of oxides and related materials. The design of the RF plasma source must be compatible with the existing PRO-75 MBE system as discussed in paragraph 2.0 above and the plasma chamber exit aperture design must be customizable for the port tilt-angle and intended pressure and flow regimes of operation.

3.5.1.1 The O* beam diameter at the substrate should be sufficiently broad and uniform to give better than 5% total thickness variation (TTV) across the center 2.75" diameter of a rotated 3" OD substrate. The offeror should demonstrate that the proposed beam diameter can meet these specifications by submitting evidence with its proposal. The beam should be designed for 0.5-5 sccm O2 flow while maintaining the system pressure in below 5x10-5 Torr (ideally < 2x10-5 Torr)

3.5.1.2 The RF plasma source must be specifically designed for Oxide MBE system using appropriate high-purity materials in the plasma region of the source.

3.5.1.3 The RF plasma source must be constructed with refractory materials which permit operation at power levels from 100 W up to 350 W.

3.5.1.4 The RF plasma source must incorporate water-cooling to minimize the heat load on the cryoshrouds and ensure reliable operation.

3.5.1.5 The RF plasma source system should include an automatic RF matching network.

3.5.1.6 The offeror shall supply all necessary power supplies, matching network, signal and power cables and connectors to the RF plasma source.

3.6 Effusion Cell Shutters

3.6.1 10 each effusion cell shutters must be provided for the system. The shutters should be specifically designed for compatibility with Oxide MBE. The shutters must mount on 4.5” OD CF flanges, use magnetic coupling (bellows are not acceptable), and use electrically-driven sinusoidal-motion shutter actuator motors (for fast operation, reduced end-point velocity to minimize particle-generation, and for increased reliability) of the MBE Komponenten LSM design for compatibility with NRL’s existing PRO-75 system to minimize spare component requirements. The shutter actuators must provide feedback to the shutter controller that includes the shutter open/close state. This option package includes ten (10) effusion cell shutters, ten (10) electric shutter actuator motors, twelve (12) electrical shutter control modules, and a twelve (12) position electrical rack enclosure with communications interfaces between the shutter control modules and the control PC.

3.7 Quartz Crystal Rate Monitor (QCM)

3.7.1 A quartz-crystal rate monitor (QCM) system shall be provided. It must be mounted in a position where it can reproducibly measure the deposition rate on the substrate. The QCM must also be able to monitor the flux and feedback control information to an e-beam source controller during evaporation from a side-mounted 6x8 EBE. The QCM must be mounted on a 2.75" OD or larger CF flange with a retractable linear translation stage to enable retraction of the sensor head from the beams. The QCM must also include a gate valve and vacuum hardware to permit changing of the quartz crystals in the sensor head and returning the QCM to operation without breaking the vacuum in the growth chamber. The linear translator must have at least 500 mm of travel. The offeror should specify the brand and model number of the QCM to be provided in its proposal.

3.7.2 The in-vacuum quartz crystal sensor head should be equipped with a shutter to prevent unintentional deposition on the crystal. The shutter must be controllable with a personal computer.

3.7.3 The deposition rate must be displayable on a system computer screen via software supplied with the system.

3.8 Side-mounted 6x8 Linear EBE System

3.8.1 A multipocket linear EBE System shall be provided. It will mount on the 10” OD CF (DN 200 CF) port on the side of the Oxide MBE chamber (section 2.1.4.23). It must use a commercially-available electron beam source that has been incorporated into an EBE specifically designed for operation in an MBE system, have six (6) each 8 cc source pockets that linearly translate into the electron gun position. It must be compatible with NRL’s existing MBE Komponenten EBVM 6x8 EBE on the PRO-75 MBE chamber including having a water cooled hearth, a water cooled “roof” above the plane of the EBE designed to reduce the heat load on the LN2 cryopanel and more tightly confine the emitted flux, a computer-controlled shutter, and the capability to operate at 10 kV, 600 mA. It must use industry-standard source pocket liners.

3.8.2 The offeror shall supply all necessary power supplies, rate controllers, signal and power cables and connectors to the EBE. Ferrotec Carrera 5000 W power supplies, Ferrotec filament power supplies, and Ferrotec Genius EBE controllers are required for commonality with our PRO-75 6x8 EBE, our EBE software control infrastructure, and to minimize spare component requirements.

3.9 Cross-Beam Residual Gas Analysis and Control System

An integrated residual gas analysis (RGA) and leak detection system is required for monitoring and feedback control of the 6x8 EBE system. The system must be based on a MKS Microvision 2 200 AMU/q cross-beam RGA system or equivalent. The unit must include the following:

3.9.1 Must be of the cross-beam quadrupole-type design.

3.9.2 Must be designed for a minimum range of 1-200 AMU/q detection and analysis.

3.9.3 Must operate with 120 volts and 60 Hz AC power.

3.9.4 Must interface with a Windows PC and permit recording and analysis of gas spectra using Windows software in near real-time and offline.

3.9.5 Must have software and interfaces designed for peak detection and signal-feedback to a Ferrotec Genius EBE controller for real-time control of the flux from the EBE.

3.10 Sample Wafer Holders

1 or 2 each sample wafer holders designed for holding industry standard 3” OD, and 1 or 2 each wafer holders for industry-standard 2” OD crystalline wafers shall be provided. These must be manufactured from refractory metal compatible with MBE oxide film deposition and be functionally and dimensionally compatible with existing V80H/PRO-75 wafer holders. The offeror should specify the refractory metal to be provided in its proposal and specify any operational limits for the material.

3.11 Spare parts kit

The awardee shall supply a spare parts kit for items requiring regular maintenance. This kit is to include ion gauge filaments, replacement seals, and fuses.

3.12 System Automation

The system must be controllable using a personal computer (PC).

3.12.1 System control is to be provided through a dedicated computer with a Windows 8.1 Professional or later operating system. The computer must have a 17" or larger flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, minimum eight (8) giga-byte (GB) memory, Intel i5 or better CPU, minimum 250 GB solid-state hard drive, keyboard, optical mouse, Read/Write DVD optical drive capability, and Windows network interface capability for 100-Base T network operation using the Internet-standard TCP/IP protocol.

3.12.2 The computer software must provide for display of all significant system parameters, including: pump on/off status, MBE growth chamber pressure, effusion cell temperatures, oxygen gas flow rate, RF incident and reflected power, and the status of all source shutters and pneumatic valves.

3.12.3 The PC control system must operate all effusion cell power supplies and shutters, the substrate heater power supply, and be capable of chaining steps and recipes for dielectric deposition.

3.12.4 The system must have data logging and recipe files that can be externally viewed and edited.

3.12.5 The software must be capable of supporting multiple users each with individual accounts.

4.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

4.1 Installation Site

The awardee shall install the system at the Naval Research Laboratory, Building 208, at a specific location to be designated by NRL. NRL will provide process cooling water, pressurized air, pressurized dry nitrogen gas, oxygen process gases, liquid nitrogen and 208/240 VAC single and three-phase electrical power. The offeror shall specify all utilities required, and the dimensions and approximate weights of all equipment provided with the proposal. The system frame footprint (exclusive of electronics racks and backing pumps) 44-inches wide x 92-inches long. The maximum crate size permissible is limited by the loading dock door (100 inches high x 72” wide). The MBE system must be decrated to roll it into the laboratory space. Several right-angle turns are required. The hallway width is approximately 82 inches. The laboratory brickwork opening is approximately 91-5/8 inches high x approximately 52-1/8 inches wide. Minor disassembly of the Oxide MBE system is permitted if required to allow the system to enter the laboratory installation space. Modification of the brickwork should not be assumed to be possible. Mechanical pumps must be located within the same laboratory as the MBE system. The awardee is responsible for providing the vacuum tubing and electrical cables necessary to connect these components to the system and to the NRL-supplied uitilities.

4.2 On-Site System Training, Acceptance, and Manuals

Upon completion of the installation, the awardee must provide training at NRL. At a minimum, training must include system operation and review of maintenance procedures for two NRL users for a minimum of two days. System capabilities must be demonstrated by the awardee and will be reviewed prior to final acceptance of the system. Acceptance is contingent on passing the requirements in Section 2 and the requirements in the optional items in Section 3 for any option items which are exercised at time of the award. User manuals will be provided to NRL for all furnished equipment and systems.

4.3 Documentation, Drawing, and Warranty Requirements

A full set of all written documentation customarily provided to the public with a commercial item shall be provided. This shall include user manual(s) or equivalent as well as copies of any software, and any manuals for the software included with the system, if customarily provided. This documentation must be received at NRL with the system hardware, unless other arrangements are agreed to by NRL. The offeror shall submit design drawings and/or CAD files for the MBE machine and for the port configurations with its proposal. Any and all necessary changes and modifications to the design drawings submitted by the successful offeror shall be approved by the NRL prior to manufacture.

The offeror shall offer the Government at least the same warranty terms, including offers of extended warranties offered to the general public in customary commercial practice. These warranty terms must be included in the system price. The period of the warranty shall begin upon acceptance.