Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) are an official government contracting resource for small businesses. Find your local PTAC (opens in new window) for free government expertise related to contract opportunities.

Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (BSA) under a Prime Contract for the operation of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), herewith solicits your quote to furnish a Multi-probe System for Nanometric Positioning Paired with Co-located Physical/Chemical/Optical Characterizations (Multi-probe).

BSA is planning the procurement of a four-probe scanning probe microscopy (SPM) system for nanometric positioning of molecular and nanoscale materials paired with co-located physical, chemical and optical characterizations for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL, managed by Triad National Security, LLC). The multiprobe system will be procured by Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) on behalf of CINT as part of the Nanoscale Science Research Center Recapitalization (NSRC-Recap) project. The Multiprobe system, hereafter referred to as “Instrument”, shall be designed to provide an unprecedented combination of capabilities for direct-write maskless nanolithography paired with multimodal online characterization. The direct-write capability will be enabled by fountain pen nanolithography (FPN) with external (optical, electrical) trigger. The latter entails on-line advanced Raman, atomic force microscopy (AFM), tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), and optical microscopy, where scanning probe microscopy (SPM) capabilities are enhanced by an ability to interact and co-locate up to four scanning probes. Optical microscopy shall be supported by an embedded dual (upright/inverted) microscope system adapted for 4-probe system and vacuum chamber operation. Among other features, this configuration will enable structures to be “written”, e.g., a chemical functionality added to a surface or a hybrid nanomaterial created, and then immediately characterized without having to remove the sample to a separate platform, benefitting from direct knowledge of the location of the created functionality imparted by the interacting probes. This new system will therefore enable nanolithography and multiple in situ SPM characterizations (Raman micro-spectroscopy coupled to AFM/Raman/TERS and NSOM applications, correlated AFM-Raman, Kelvin probe, electrical, thermal measurements) and optical microscopy (fluorescence analysis).

The CINT is a user-oriented research center whose mission is to be an open facility for the nanoscience research community and to advance scientific understanding underlying nanoscale integration through the assembly of diverse materials across multiple length scales, with the ultimate goal of designing and achieving new material properties and functionalities. The new and unique capabilities of the instrument would enrich both internal research and the user program in the growing areas of nanophotonics integration, understanding heterogeneities in quantum materials, creating functionality with hybrid materials for quantum information science and technology, especially supporting new directions in reading/writing and transducing quantum states, and the interface of these fields.

BSA invites you to participate in accordance with the RFQ letter and all supporting attachments. This requirement has been posted on the sam.gov website under Request for Quote (RFQ) 428085. Any questions concerning this RFQ must be addressed via email to the attention of Lisa Gonzales at lgonzales@bnl.gov.

The purpose of Amendment 01 is to extend the due date for responses to this solicitation to 5:00 PM Eastern Time on 05/08/2023. The remainder of the solicitation remains unchanged.