Statement of Work.docx

Statement of Work Ion Beam Sputtered Mirror Coating Services

Background The Micro- and Nanoelectromechanical Systems Group at NIST develops micro- and nanoscale devices for sensing, metrology, and computation. We are in need of ion beam sputtered mirror coating services using dielectric materials for the development of micro-optomechanical devices used for sensing and quantum information science.

Minimum Requirements We require mirror coating services on substrates that will be provided by the Government. These Government furnished substrates will include 100 mm silicon wafers and 100 mm stainless steel chip holders with silicon chips located in the holders. The technical specifications for these substrates are provided below.

The requested ion beam sputtered mirror coating services shall meet or exceed the following requirements.

The Contractor shall complete coating runs services as follows:

a. Four (4) separate coating runs shall be provided through the period of performance.

b. A run includes all of the substrates that can be put in the deposition chamber during a single deposition.

c. Each run will take place within 18 months from the award date and runs will be spaced arbitrarily throughout this period.

Coating Technical Specifications

1. Deposition method: Ion beam sputtering, ion beam assisted sputtering is not acceptable

a. Deposition Tool: The angle between the substrates and the beam of sputtered molecules shall be close to 90° with a cone angle near 90° or less (i.e., the beam of sputtered molecules diverges with a cone angle near 90° or less). This is necessary because the stainless-steel chip holder will be used as a shadow mask for some chips. Deposition from an oblique angle will result in significant shadowing in the deposited coating. Similarly, the deposition tool shall use a planetary substrate carousel to minimize the shadowing effect.

2. Substrate materials: Combination of silicon, silicon nitride and silicon dioxide

3. Substrate size: 100 mm diameter

4. Substrate roughness: < 1 nm RMS

5. Minimum number of substrates per run: 8

6. Coating materials: Layers of tantalum pentoxide and silicon dioxide

7. Center wavelength for coating: 1550 nm

8. Reflectivity: Run type 1 ≥ 99.997%, Run type 2 ≥ 99.95%

a. The minimum reflectivity of 99.997% is necessary for one of the coating types, run type 1. We may decide to reduce the reflectivity to 99.95%, run type 2, based on our needs at the time. However, responses must meet the specification of R ≥ 99.997% since at least one run will require it. Responses should include individual pricing for run types 1 and 2. The only difference between the two run types, 1 and 2, is the requested reflectivity for a given run.

9. Angle of incidence: 0°

10. Coating bandwidth: +/- 4 nm, minimum range over which required reflectivity is achieved

11. Maximum coating thickness: 15 μm

12. Annealing the substrates after coating is acceptable. The vendor must confer with NIST on the best way to place the substrates in the annealing oven.

Details on Substrates One type of substrate will be a 100 mm diameter silicon wafer that may have thin film silicon nitride and silicon dioxide features. The critical locations for the coating will be in areas where the coating directly contacts the silicon wafer (i.e., reflectivity on silicon is the critical parameter). A second type of substrate will be a stainless-steel chip holder with a 100 mm diameter. The chip holder will carry silicon chips of different size, where each chip may have thin film silicon nitride and silicon dioxide features. The chip holder will be designed to work with the vendor’s existing tooling. Responses to this solicitation should state whether substrates are mounted vertically or horizontally in the deposition chamber.

Delivery/Period of Performance:

The services shall be completed over a course of 18 months ARO and shall consist of a maximum of four (4) coating runs for either type 1 or type 2.

The Government point of contact will ship the substrates for each run to the contractor by a date mutually agreed upon by Contractor and Government personnel. Each run will take place within the one (1) month. Upon completion of the required services in the specifications section above, the Contractor shall ship the substrates using FOB Destination delivery. Delivery shall be completed within four weeks of Contractor receipt of the substrates.

NIST Staff on Site Depending on the design of the chip holder, NIST staff may be required to be on site at the vendor’s facilities. NIST staff will be there to load and unload substrates and chips in the chip holder and to provide guidance on placing substrates and chips in the annealing oven, if used, but will not interfere in any other way. Travel expenses for NIST staff will be paid for by NIST separate from this procurement.

Inspection/Acceptance

Inspection and acceptance shall take place upon receipt. In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in 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.

The Government anticipates acceptance/rejection of the system NLT thirty (30) days after inspection and acceptance has been completed. Inspection will be performed with a test sample (witness) provided by NIST that will be coated in the same run as the provided substrates. The test sample will be a piece of super polished single crystal silicon with dimensions on the order of 1”. NIST researchers will assemble a Fabry-Perot cavity using the test sample and a concave super mirror with a nominal reflectivity of 99.998%. The finesse of the resulting cavity will be measured using an existing optical cavity readout system, thereby providing the reflectivity of the test sample. Multiple sites (> 3) on the test sample will be measured to provide an average reflectivity. Results from this inspection will be provided to the awardee if the coatings do not meet the specifications.

Government Furnished Property The government will furnish substrates to the Contractor for completion of the services per the delivery schedule above.

Payment Schedule

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:

1. Payments shall be issued after delivery, inspection, and acceptance of each service run.