CUSTOM SILICON CARBIDE TRANSISTORS

Announcement Type: Special Notice
Classification Code: 6695

Announcement Number: NB683130-25-02480

Subject: Notice of Intent to Noncompetitively Acquire Custom Silicon Carbide transistors

This notice is not a request for a quotation. A solicitation document will not be issued and quotations will not be requested.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) via FAR 13.106-1(b). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requires the design and fabrication of custom silicon carbide transistors on pre-diced 5 x 5 mm2 substrates. The substrates must be provided by NIST and will have an epitaxial layer with modified isotopic ratio. The transistors will be used to further our research of quantum-based magnetic field sensors with the goal of improving SWAP-C optimization of the technology for a variety of application spaces. 

The nanoscale device characterization division requires custom silicon carbide transistors to be fabricated on NIST-owned silicon carbide dies which are 5 x 5 mm^2 in size. The custom transistors must be fabricated on the existing substrates, as they include an especially rare expitaxial layer of silicon carbide with adjusted isotopic ratios. The procured transistors will be the first of their kind, and will be used as the basis of optimized, quantum-based magnetic field sensors. After thorough evaluation, it has been determined that the custom silicon carbide transistors from manufacturer, CoolCAD Electronics, LLC, are essential for several reasons:

1. Technical: While the design and fabrication of silicon carbide transistors on an industrial scale (dozens of full wafers with 100s of die each) is possible, NIST does not require fabrication on an industrial sized scale, and it is extremely cost-prohibitive to the agency. The extremely small-scale fabrication (2 NIST-owned dies) using industry-relevant processes is not possible. Additionally, the small (5 x 5 mm^2) die size is not compatible with any industry processing equipment meant for large-scale fabrication. No other identified vendors are 1) willing to work at such a small scale compared to typical industry practice, and 2) have access to a full line of processing equipment that is compatible with NIST’s restricted substrate size.

NIST conducted market research from June 2025-July 2025 by internet searches, discussions with sources, recommendations from colleagues, and a sources sought posting. Sources sought NIST-FY25-CHIPS-0095 was posted from July 17, 2025, through July 25, 2025, with no responses received. The results of that market research revealed that only from CoolCAD Electronics, LLC. 7850 Walker Drive Suite 140, Greenbelt, MD 20770, UEI: FJELK5N54RS3 appears to be capable of meeting NIST’s requirements.

However, any sources that believe they are capable of meeting NIST’s minimum requirements are encouraged to respond to this notice by the response date to provide the following information at a minimum: Company Unique Entity Identifier number in https://sam.gov; details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements; whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization; and any other information that can help NIST determine whether this requirement may be competitively satisfied.