Sources Sought_Direct Bonding for Compound Semiconductor.pdf

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

Direct Bonding for Compound Semiconductors for Use in Dual Band Infrared Focal Plane Arrays.

Contract Opportunity Notice ID:

Related Notice Department/Ind. Agency: DEPT OF DEFENSE

Sub-tier: Department of Army

Major Command: Army Futures Command (AFC) Sub Command: DEVCOM Office: C5ISR Center General Information

• Contract Opportunity Type: Sources Sought (Original)

• All Dates/Times are:

• Original Published Date: August 21, 2025

• Original Response Date: 15 days after published date

Classification

• Original Set Aside:

• Product Service Code: AC13, EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

• NAICS Code: 541715, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)

• Place of Performance: at Contractor’s facility.

• The Contractor Facility must have a approved at the appropriate clearance level.

Description

SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS

The C5ISR Center is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support manufacturability of infrared dual band infrared detector and yield improvement through the use of direct bonding. The result of this market research will potentially inform future procurement. There is no award or contract associated with this market survey. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541715.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

ONLY

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE that is open to all companies and is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. This Sources Sought Notice is released pursuant to FAR Part 10 Market Research and is issued for the purpose of identifying available sources (interested entities) capable of performing the requirement. This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and NO CONTRACT will be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. The information gathered from this Sources Sought Notice will be utilized in the Government's determination for the business type utilized in the Request For Proposal (RFP).

Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.

Purpose and Objectives

The Army’s latest Electro-Optic Infrared (EOIR) system is looking to enter into the production and deployment phase of low-rate production. The EOIR system will allow Army soldiers to detect faster and identify targets sooner. The current systems focal plane array (FPA) used has an issue with the use of epoxy to manufacture these FPAs.

Epoxy is used in the interlayer between the midwave (MW) and longwave (LW) infrared detector materials absorbers. The epoxy is used to mechanically bond the MW and LW layers together but the epoxy is absorbing radiation and keeping it from the detector as it absorbs some of the LW infrared radiation. This is the radiation the system is designed to detect and as a result reduces the quantum efficiency (the conversion of photons into electric signal) of the detector and therefore the sensitivity of the system.

The objective of this market research is to gain knowledge on available solutions to develop direct bonding (DB) techniques to completely remove or reduce the use of infrared absorbing epoxy (or other bonding) materials from the manufacturing process.

Estimate Period of Performance: 36 months

The information being solicited includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. A cover page (no longer than one page) which provides the following information: The entities name, address, phone number, email address for the point of contact, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, CAGE code (if applicable), and business size. Specify the small business classification: small business, small-disadvantaged business, woman owned, veteran owned, disabled veteran owned, 8(a) or HUB Zone.

2. A brief Statement of Capabilities detailing how your company meets the requirements outlined in Attachment 1 – Statement of Objective (CUI).

*NOTE:* Requests for viewing CUI documents must be accompanied by the Contractor's JCP Certification Number and Cage Code. If your request is denied, you will need to re-request with your JCP Certification Number and Cage Code.

a. Does your company have experienced and have expert knowledge and advanced in-house design, fabrication and characterization capabilities in the research, development, and testing of FPAs?

b. Does your company have expert knowledge and capabilities to provide solutions to develop direct bonding (DB) techniques?

c. Does your company have 10 years experience in supporting Department of Defense science and technology programmatic activities?

d. Does your company have 10 years experience in managing technical efforts to include management and tracking of cost, schedule, and performance of EOIR system?

If the contractor answers yes to the above questions, please provide a brief example on your experience or knowledge.

3. Please identify if this service or product is considered commercial or non-commercial, as defined in FAR Part 12.

SUBMISSION DATE AND TIME:

All interested parties responding to this Sources Sought Notice must submit their responses no later than 15 days after source sought released to hanh.t.dinh.civ@army.mil and andrew.j.stoltz.civ@army.mil. For consistency purposes, responses are to be submitted electronically in either MS Word (.doc or .docx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format using a minimum of 11-point font and allowing for 1-inch margins no more than 10 pages in length, inclusive of the cover page. The Government Technical Lead may contact firms responding to this announcement to clarify a responder’s capabilities or obtain other information as part of this market research process.

If you have any questions concerning this opportunity, please contact:

hanh.t.dinh.civ@army.mil.

mailto:hanh.t.dinh.civ@army.mil mailto:andrew.j.stoltz.civ@army.mil

As previously indicated, this is NOT a solicitation; therefore, no cost or pricing information should be provided. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. This is a market survey to identify potential sources capable of performing the effort required. Responses should be limited to the entity’s cover page and capabilities statement (as identified above) along with their respective business size based upon the list provided. It is not mandatory for an offeror to respond to this Sources Sought Notice in order to be eligible for proposing on a subsequent RFP when/if issued.

Attachments/Links The CUI attachment will be provided at request once appropriate eligibility is verified.

Attachment 0001- Statement of Objective (CUI) restricted