SUB-BOILING DISTILLER

BACKGROUND

Semiconductor manufacturing yield enhancement requires ongoing risk analysis of cleaning chemical purity wherein critical contaminants are already at levels difficult or impossible to detect, let alone identify and quantify. Next-generation chips will require even purer materials and advanced metrological capabilities for the detection, identification, and quantification of impurities in semiconductor cleaning chemicals, necessitating a practical roadmap for assessing material purity commensurate with the needs of the next generation in semiconductor manufacturing.

The purification of water to ultrapure water is a critical process in various semiconductor and research applications, where even trace amounts of contaminants at the parts-per-billion level (ppb, 10-9 moles per mole) can compromise the integrity of the water and affect downstream processes. High molecular weight organics (a particle precursor), metallic ions and native particles can all impact chip reliability and yield at these low concentrations. Current laboratory grade ultrapure water sources using reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and ultrafiltration can readily obtain water purities with contaminants at the ppb level. However, the development of test materials requires significantly reduced contaminant concentrations of 10 to 100 parts-per-trillion (ppt, 10-12 moles per mole). Artifact based standards require even further reduced contamination concentrations approaching the 10’s of parts-per-quadrillion (ppq, 10-15 moles per mole). The proposed method for producing this new grade of UPW, referred to as UPW0, is to further purify UPW using sub-boiling distillation in a controlled environment (i.e., glove box). The sub-boiling distillation process greatly reduces contamination carryover, versus traditional distillation, while the glove box reduces interferences from ambient molecular and particulate contaminants.

Specifically, we require a sub-boiling distiller to further purify ultrapure water for test material and standards development.

NIST is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a solution that will achieve the objectives described above, in addition to the following essential requirements:

Line Item 0001: Sub-boiling distiller

Description: Sub-boiling distillation system.

Quantity: 1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Does not require a fume hood for operation.
   2. PTFE or PFA wetted components.
   3. Automatic filling and draining with overfill and dry-running protection.
   4. 120 V, 60 Hz AC

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

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• Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

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• Describe performance capabilities and relevant or beneficial physical and functional features for any equipment you identified to satisfy the NIST-identified minimum specifications described in this notice.

• Identify any aspects of the NIST market research notice, including instructions, and draft minimum specifications in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or contain unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your ability to fully participate and indicate why.  In such a scenario, please offer suggestions for how the market research notice and draft minimum specifications could be made more inclusive and competitive.

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• Describe services that are available with the purchase of the aforementioned equipment from your company such as installation, training, and equipment maintenance.

• Describe standard terms and conditions of sale offered by your company for the aforementioned equipment such as: delivery time after your company accepts the order; FOB shipping terms: manufacturer warranty (including details regarding nature and duration); if available, description(s) of available extended warranty; equipment setup and test; operator and service instruction manual(s); cleanup after installation; and if applicable, other offered services.  Provide a copy of manufacturer standard terms and conditions that typically relate to the sale of the specified equipment, if available.

• State whether your company offers facility renovation services related to installation of the aforementioned equipment at its delivery destination, if required per the NIST-identified minimum specifications, and provide description of services.  Indicate if your company performs the facility renovation services or typically subcontracts the work to another company.  Indicate if your company would be interested inspecting the intended installation site during the market research phase.

• State published price, discount or rebate arrangements for aforementioned equipment and/or provide link to access company’s published prices for equipment and services. 

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• Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for NIST to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

• State if you require NIST to provide additional information to improve your understanding of the government’s requirement and/or would like to meet with NIST representatives to discuss the requirement and the capabilities of the identified equipment.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice.  Questions should be submitted so that they are received 5 days prior to the expiration of this notice.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.  

Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice.  

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!