Trusted Foundry Access III – Manufacturing

The Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), McClellan, CA is issuing this Presolicitation notice to stimulate the interest of the greatest number of prospective bidders for Trusted Foundry Access III – Manufacturing.  

This Notice is relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 334413, Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing. The Small Business size standard for NAICS 334413 is 1,250 employees. The Product Service Code (PSC) is 5962, Microcircuits, Electronic.

The vendor shall be able provide uninterrupted access to measurably secure, State-of-the-Art semiconductor foundry and manufacturing services. All work is to be performed within the vendor’s facilities. Foundry and manufacturing services include but are not limited to access for the following process technologies:

Silicon on Insulator

The following silicon on insulator (SOI) lithographic generation technologies and associated process development kits (PDK) are required, in production volumes. 

• 45nm Silicon on Insulator (SOI), partially depleted. Required. 
• 22nm SOI, fully depleted. Required. 

Silicon-Germanium

The following Silicon-Germanium lithographic generation technologies and associated process development kits (PDK) are required, in production volumes. 

• 130nm Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) with embedded 130nm CMOS (fully monolithic). Required. 
• 90nm SiGe with embedded 90nm CMOS (fully monolithic). Required.

Fin Field Effect Transistor

The following Fin FET lithographic generation technologies and associated process development kits (PDK) are required or desired, in production volumes. 

• 12 to 16nm Fin Field Effect Transistor (FinFET). Required. 

• FinFET below 12nm. Desired

Radio Frequency Silicon on Insulator

Radio Frequency Silicon on Insulator (RFSOI) is defined as having PDKs with devices that are modeled for operation in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. 

• 45nm partially depleted. Required.

Silicon Photonics

Silicon photonics describes the ability to take a fiber optic signal (in and out) and convert it to an electric signal. The capability must be fully monolithic and possess embedded CMOS logic capabilities.  

• 45nm silicon photonics, partially depleted. Required.

Silicon Photonics Technologies

Note: Ability to take a fiber optic signal in/out and convert it to an electrical signal. The capability must be fully monolithic and possess embedded 45nm CMOS logic capabilities. 

• 45nm Partially Depleted. Required.

Photomask Sourcing

The ability to produce or otherwise obtain Trusted masks that are production qualified for the technologies listed above is required. These Trusted masks must be sourced from a DMEA accredited Trusted supplier in a Trusted flow (up to SECRET classification). There must also be an ability to source masks in an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)and restrictive Export Administration Regulations (EAR) compliant manner.

Perform Foundry, Hardware, Development Services or Consulting Services

For the Technologies referenced above, the vendors shall have the ability to perform or source the test; failure analysis; design and technology development; post processing; and packaging support services.

Perform Multi-Project Wafer Runs

For prototype development using the technologies referenced above, the contractor shall have the ability to offer commercial, ITAR-compliant, and Trusted (up to SECRET classification) multi-project wafer (MPW) runs. The contractor shall also provide access to MPW space for technologies as they are available for current and derivative and future nodes of the technologies. MPW runs will be offered at a minimum pacing of once every six months for, at a minimum, for the three most leading-edge technologies. Other considerations may include the option for multiple placements and design differentiations for a particular silicon process. In order to accommodate production schedules and volumes, the contractor shall provide reservation deadlines and “tape-out” dates in a timely manner, along with the applicable technical requirements for that MPW run. Fabrication response time data shall be provided, to include volumes and cycle times for each technology, taking into consideration product maturity (prototype versus full production); security considerations; and other impactful production constraints.

Process Design Kit Support

For the Technologies referenced in section 3.2, externally viable PDKs and PDK design support for technologies offered above shall be provided by the contractor and available to TAPO customers.

Order Fulfillment Services

The contractor shall consider order fulfillment services, to include shipping costs and logistics fees, up-front in the initial price negotiations for task orders.

Contract Type: The proposed contract is anticipated to be a 10-year single-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. It is anticipated that DMEA would, simultaneously, issue two (2) Task Orders (TO) for the first year of orders with the IDIQ award. TOs are anticipated to be issued as Firm-Fixed Price (FFP). Additional TO may be issued for support of TFA3 manufacturing effort.

Below is a tentative schedule for the remaining milestones:

RFP issuance (15 March 2023)

Proposal Due Date (17 April 2023)

Anticipated IDIQ award date (30 May 2023)

Disclaimers and Important Notes: This Notice is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, implied or otherwise, to issue a solicitation or award a contract. This is not a request for quote (RFQ) or a request for proposal (RFP), and responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. The Government will not pay for any cost incurred in responding to this Notice. Any information submitted by respondents to this PresolicitationNotice is voluntary.

The information submitted in response to this Notice will not be utilized to determine vendor standing in any future or potential RFP or RFQ, whether a vendor is qualified to submit an RFQ or RFP for any future requirement, or how well respondents can perform a requirement, which can only be evaluated in response to a solicitation.

Vendors will not receive formal notification or feedback on any information submitted in response to this PresolicitationNotice. The Government reserves the right to reject or disregard, in whole or in part, any response to this Notice. Any future submissions in response to a solicitation to the GPE will be evaluated independent of any information submitted in response to this Notice. Responses to this Presolicitation noticewill not be returned.