Source Sought Notice for Two (2) Highly Accelerated Stress Test (HAST) Chamber

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a Source Sought Notice seeking vendors to supply two Highly Accelerated Stress Test (HAST) chambers for semiconductor research applications. These chambers must simultaneously apply high temperature (105-162°C), high humidity (75-100% RH), and high pressure (0.020-0.392 MPa) to simulate environmental aging of electronic components and support the CHIPS Metrology program's research on long-term reliability of advanced semiconductor packaging materials. Respondents must provide detailed company information, equipment specifications, manufacturing details, business classification, product capabilities, customization options, service offerings, warranty terms, and potential installation support. This notice is issued for market research purposes and does not guarantee contract award; however, vendor responses will inform the government's understanding of available commercial solutions. The response deadline for this Source Sought Notice is January 22, 2026, providing interested vendors with a two-week window to submit their capabilities and information.

This procurement carries no set-aside designations and does not identify any incumbent contractors or current service providers. The Source Sought Notice does not disclose an estimated award value or budget range at this stage of market research. The equipment will be installed at NIST's Engineering Laboratory in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and will support the development of metrology capabilities for the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, with the objective of creating an open-source material properties database and reliability model for industry use. The procurement falls under NAICS 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) and PSC 6640 (Laboratory Equipment and Supplies), indicating the equipment classification and procurement category that will likely apply to the eventual full solicitation.