RFI 473764 for Dilfridge.pdf

Request for Information (RFI) No. 473764

Ultralow Temperature Quantum Materials/Devices Measurement System

Please note that this is an RFI/Sources Sought notice, not a Request for Proposal, and no solicitation exists at this time.

BNL-QA-101, para 3.1.3 - Conformance to Supplier’s/Manufacturer’s quality program or system.

To all Potential/Interested Suppliers, Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (herein known as “BSA”), operator of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) under a Prime Contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is seeking expressions of interest from firms regarding Ultralow Temperature Quantum Materials/Devices Measurement System:

Overview

The Center for Functional Nanomaterials & The Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage are planning to acquire an ultralow temperature platform for quantum materials and devices characterization. The ultralow temperature quantum materials/device measurement system (“UTQMD”) should be a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator with separate vacuum and radiation shield set for two different types of measurements. One is for the characterization of two-dimensional materials to realize and control correlated quantum coherence, and another is for dielectric loss characterization using high-Q microwave cavities for materials in superconducting qubits.

1. General

1.1. This specification describes the requirements for the ultralow temperature quantum materials/devices measurement system (“UTQMD”) to be installed at CFN. The system shall be designed as a cryostat with an integrated high-field magnet, providing a ultralow base temperature.

The system uses a helium-4 pulse tube to precool to 4K and a helium-3/helium-4 mixture to reach <10 mK temperature. The low temperature helps to minimize thermal fluctuations and thus improve the quantum coherence of the qubits/enable to observe quantum phenomena such as superconductor, exciton condensate physics. It shall support (1) electronic transport and optical spectroscopy of two-dimensional heterostructure devices and (2) RF dielectric-loss characterization using high-Q microwave resonators for superconducting qubit materials – both at temperatures < 10 mK, with expected cooling power of (typical 14 µW) on the experimental flange at 20 mK. All electrical components must be NRTL certificated. As an instrument offered to general users in a NSRC, the system shall be engineered for safe, user-friendly operation (hardware and control software) and demonstrate a proven track record of low-maintenance, low-downtime operation.

2. Configuration & performance requirements

This section defines the required features and describes the performance specifications of the system. The system should be a fully integrated instrument with subsystems that include the pulse tube cryocooler & its helium compressor, cryostat and radiation shields, gas handling system, automated bottom loading fast sample exchange, DC & RF wiring, optical access ports, cryogen-free magnet, control and diagnostics, graphical user interface (GUI) software, and all cables, hoses, and pumps for operation.

The UTQMD system shall deliver a technical performance that is equivalent or superior to the following LD250 dilution refrigerator system offered by Bluefors Oy:

2.1 Pulse tube cryocooler and compressor:

• Cryomech pulse tube cryocooler with a remote motor provides the cryogenic cooling power of the dilution refrigerator measurement system without the need for liquid cryogens.

• Precools components of the cryostat insert to ~50K and ~3K through integrated heat switches

• Cools the radiation shields of the cryostat during operation

• Provides two pre-cooling stages for the circulated helium-3 gas as it returns to the cryostat

• Provides additional cooling power to heat sink experimental wiring

• The compressor for the helium mixture circulation is not of membrane type (but scroll type) and thus, there is no risk of rupture, which could lead to helium mixture loss or contamination

• Pulse tube cryocooler can be easily replaced without removing the dilution unit or any of the experimental plates for ease of maintenance

• Cryomech model PT425-RM cryocooler with expected cooling powers at 1st stage (50W at 45K) and at 2nd stage (2.35W at 4.2K)

• Voltage specification: 440/480 VAC 3Ph 60Hz

• Remote motor and ballast tanks in a separate shelf for vibration mitigation

2.2 Cryostat and radiation shields:

• Provided with 3-section vacuum can, 50K shield, 4K shield, and still shield compatible with cryogen-free 14 T magnet and fast sample exchange.

• Separate 2-section vacuum can, 50K shield, 4K shield, still shield, mixing chamber shield, and RT magnetic shield for superconducting qubit experiments without magnet and fast sample exchange.

• Dilution unit can be easily replaced without removing any of the experimental plates for ease of maintenance

• Fully welded main heat exchanger, not prone to developing leaks (like soft solder joints) and thus provides indefinite trouble-free operation

• Modular system design allows prompt replacement of parts in case of part failure

• Gas gap heat switches used as a part of the support structure of the cryostat insert enables clear access to the experimental flanges

• Heavy duty support frame with added machined aluminum top plate (~200kg) for mounting the cryostat for vibration isolation

• Expected cooling power of typical 14 µW on the experimental flange at 20 mK; more than 250 µW on the experimental flange at 100mK; more than 360 µW on the experimental flange at 120mK

2.3 Gas Handling System (GHS):

• Fully automatic GHS that manages the helium gas circulation in the system

• Core unit contains control electronics, pressure gauges, helium gas tanks, and vacuum and pneumatic components

• Booster unit contains the circulation boosters for the main circulation circuit

• Dedicated pumps for the helium circulation system are the main circulation pump and circulation boosters. The main circulation pump is a multistage roots pump. It is maintenance free with 6 year average service life with advanced diagnostics The circulation boosters are high-vacuum turbo pumps. The circulation boosters are located in GHS booster unit instead of on top of the cryostat. This eliminates the electrical noise and mechanical vibration transfer and gives better access to the top plate services

• Extra service booster (Pfeiffer HiPace80 vacuum turbo pump) for pumping vacuum can, fast sample exchange loading system and/or service manifold

• The sealed pumps and compressors in Gas Handling Systems are oil-free

• The cryostat is electrically isolated from the pumping system with electrically insulating spacers, clamps, and centering rings inserted into a break in each pumping line close to

GHS

• The cryostat is mechanically isolated from GHS booster unit by an edge-welded metallic T-damper

• Long-life cold trap to condense all the possible contaminant gases in the helium circulation and prevent clogging, allows to use the system for 3 years without interruption and without need for external liquid nitrogen trap

• Control software with full system diagnostics. Instrument cart includes temperature controller, 4K heater power supply, and display for high-performance industrial PC

• Industrial PC offers fully independent and versatile operation of the dilution refrigerator measurement system, and software is pre-installed, configured, and tested for optimal performance and control of the system

• Resistive heater (40W, 10 Ohm/ 2A max) at the 4K flange for faster warm-up, which is integrated with system control software

• Voltage specification for GHS core unit: 115V 60Hz (Single phase power)

2.4 Control and diagnostics:

• The system is controlled with programmable logic controller (PLC) system. It provides application programming interface (API) with OPC-UA protocol to all supported devices and enables access control to the listed parameters of devices

• The Control software can be used for remote control and automatic cooldown and warm-up processes. The control software installation package includes the software and all necessary drivers

• Even when not connected to the computer, the system safely recovers and restores from a power failure. Following the restoration of power after a power failure, the system attempts to restart the circulation by opening the necessary valves and starting the main circulation pump. The rebooting time of PLC system is 3-5 min. In any event, regardless of the length of time that the system has been without power and whether the system is still cold enough to restart circulation, the system is in a safe mode following a loss of power. If there is a long power failure, the mixture naturally returns to the helium tanks through the system of overpressure valves.

• Temperature controller and 4K heater power supply feature 8-channel resistive temperature measurement, four heater controls operational in manual or closed loop mode, intuitive device touchscreen and web interface and application programming interface (API) enabled via ethernet connection

2.5 Bottom loading fast sample exchange (FSE) system:

• Fully automatic load lock system for sample loading and unloading, which enables the sample exchange without warm-up of the whole cryogenic measurement system and thus reduces the total turn-around time of the system (cooldown time to <20 mK may exceed 7 hours but will typically be less than 9 hours)

• <20 mK base temperature and 50 µW cooling power at 100 mK

• Load lock mechanism with bellows and gate-valve to deliver robust, leakproof operation.

No o-ring based sliding seals that are prone to leak

• Grounding wiring with detach mechanism that protects sample while it is loaded into the system

• The detach mechanism automatically disconnects the physical contact between the FSE insert tube and the FSE insert still stage, which breaks the thermal connection between these two temperature stages. This also disconnects the grounding wiring from the FSE load lock breakout

• FSE insert diameter of 58 mm, inner diameter of sample space, 53mm, and 25mm diameter hole in the center of the probe head for top optical access

• Two micro D-sub 25pin connectors and the 4 RF connectors for DC/RF lines

• 12 Phosphor-bronze twisted pairs (24 wires) from probe room temperature break-out box to the probe detachment mechanism

• Probe thermometry package that includes additional dedicated temperature controller with thermometer, RuOx (0.015 ~ 100 K range)

• Attocube nanopositioner-ready package includes mounting brackets (gold plated copper) for nanopositioner stack inside FSE probe, and adapter wiring inside FSE sample space for plugging in the nanopositioners

2.6 Experimental wiring:

• DC installation set includes room temperature break-out box with 3 fischer connectors

• Wiring for positioners and scanners from room temperature to mixing chamber includes 6 low-ohmic wires for positioners (<5ohm) and 18 (Cu+PhBr) wires for scanners and measurements.

• 12 twisted pair experimental wiring (American wire gauge (AWG) copper) from room temperature connector box (24-pin FISCHER) to 4K flange. 12 twisted pair experimental wiring (NbTi/CuNi) from 4K flange to the mixing chamber flange. Intermediate 25-pin micro-D breakout at the 4K flange. Termination with 25-pin micro-D breakout at the mixing chamber flange. EM shielding for 12 twisted wire pairs

• RF installation set KF63 12 SMA wires from room temperature to mixing chamber.

Vacuum KF63 flange with 12x hermetic SMA feedthrough plus 1x aluminum and 1x gold thermal anchoring flanges with F/F SMA bulkheads for 50K and 4K stages. Gold plated copper thermal anchoring flanges with F/F SMA bulkheads for Still, and mixing chamber.

• At least 8 Semi-rigid coaxial lines operating up to 18 GHz. Out of the 8 lines, 6 should be 0.86mm SCuNi-CuNi from room temperature to mixing chamber with low-loss infrared filter, and 2 should be 2.19mm SCuNi-CuNi from room temperature to 4K and 0.86mm NbTi-NbTi. These 2 wires will be used as readout lines and 6 SCuNi-CuNi only lines will be used as RF drive lines. At least 4 cryogenic low noise amplifier equivalent to LNF- LNC4_8F (4-8 GHz) installed.

• Wiring for powering 4 low noise amplifier (LNA); Power block array for LNA; Power supply for 4 LNA

2.7 Cryogen-Free magnet:

• Rated field (z axis) of 14 Tesla at 4.2K

• 76 mm bore (~68mm sample space)

• Compensation coil is integrated within the magnet structure above the main coil to decrease the stray fields at the low temperature stage of the system

• Persistent mode switch (includes persistent switch harness) increases the stability of the superconducting magnets over long periods of time. The expected field drift with the persistent mode switch is <100 ppm/h

• Field homogeneity: +/- 0.1% over 1cm DSV (diameter of spherical volume)

• Integrated Cu/HTS (high temperature superconductor) 120 Ampere current leads

• 4-quadrant power supply system that includes power supply, power supply programmer, all cabling and magnet current-lead quick connection rail

2.8 Optical access ports:

• Top vertical optical access that includes clamping set with blinds at room temperature, 50K, 4K and still. UV antireflection coated fused silica for window material

• 3 inches “bossed” optical port with blind flanges for horizontal optical access

• Optical fiber installation set (FC/APC Hermetic feedthrough + optical fibers) comprising room temperature breakout box, thermalization flanges at 50K, 4K, Still, Cold plate and mixing chamber stages, and mixing chamber breakout. At least 4 optical fibers will be included. These should be polarization maintaining fibers with model PM1550, PM980, PM-780-HP and PM630HP.

• Optical fiber installation set for bottom loader FSE, FC/APC Hermetic feedthrough with PM780HP fiber and PM1550XP fiber end inside the FSE probe unit

2.9 Microwave Readout Module:

• Microwave wide band near quantum limited readout module with high signal to noise ratio.

• This module features gain bandwidth 5 GHz to 7 GHz, gain in 80% of band 11 dB, added noise in 95% of band <918 mK, gain ripple within 200 MHz window < 5 dB, and signal to noise ratio improvement 9 dB expected

• This module includes travelling wave parametric amplifier (TWPA), parametric amplifier cold-finger assembly with dual magnetic shield, filtered DC lines for TWPA flux bias control, low-noise high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier and filtering/isolation microwave components

2.10 Service feature, system installation and commissioning:

• Technical support teams are ready to help with any issues regarding the functionality and operation of the system. Support is provided by expert technical personnel who are experienced with all the products and response is provided with 1 business day via email

• Express access to original equipment manufacturer spare parts, which are shipped out in 2 business days and delivered with a call-off sales process to ensure fast delivery, saving time to resolve problems. Using original equipment manufacturer spare parts ensures optimal performance level of systems. Spare parts are provided from stock in US production facility

• System packing, shipping, installation, and commissioning

• Lab layout design: 3D system installation layout in accordance with the information about the facility space provided by the customer

• 24 months warranty for products, 12 months warranty for third-party products, and 6 months warranty for spare parts.

Questions:

1. Would the system be manufactured in the United States? If not, US based field service office is preferred, for easier technician dispatch for on-site service.

2. What kind of warranty or servicing plan products do you offer (other than specified)?

3. Could you please share a list of similar tools (no less than 10) that the vendor has installed in

US/Worldwide research institution/facilities (specified in the list).

We are open to all information you can and care to provide at this point. Please provide responses to BSA no later than January 1216, 2026.

BSA prefers electronic submissions of submittals. Electronic submissions will be accepted by the following method:

• Email submissions should express your interest and describe your capabilities related to delivering this product. Emails shall be sent to Mark Brock, mbrock@bnl.gov with the BSA RFI 473764 in the Subject Line.

We trust that the information contained herein is sufficient to permit your company to prepare a submittal outlining:

1) your capabilities

2) estimated lead times

3) budgetary pricing

4) Any exceptions you take to BSA General Terms and Conditions for Noncommercial Items (see Attachment C below).

Attachment A BNL-QA-101 Attachment B - BSA General Terms and Conditions for Commercial Products and Services, Rev. 23.0;

(May., 2025).

Should you have any questions, please contact the undersigned.

Sincerely, Mark Brock Subcontracts Supervisor Procurement & Property Management Division Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York 11973 Phone: 631.344.2713 Email: mbrock@bnl.go