Contracting Office Address
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Acquisition Management Division,
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640
This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response.
This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper.
NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.
Requirement
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Material Measurement Laboratory (MML), Materials Measurement Science Division (MMSD-643) requires an instrument that can provide non-destructive, non-contact, and spatially resolved thermal conductivity measurements for solids, liquids, pastes, gels, and foams that have a broad range of shape, size, and surface roughness. Measurement of these material forms is challenging. Thermal conductivity is a fundamental property that governs the ability of a material to transfer thermal energy. Currently, industry relies on imprecise or assumed input thermal properties for their simulation models in their efforts improve thermal management in semiconductor microelectronics. The thermal conductivity measurement instrument will provide reliable data to both internal NIST researchers and to semiconductor industry partners to improve thermal management in chip and microelectronics packaging, leading to fewer thermal failures, increased functionality, and longer operational lifetimes for cell phones, computers, communication chips, and power converter/amplification chips.
NIST requires a direct measurement of thermal conductivity that does not require numerical input values for heat capacity, density, or sample dimensions, enabling high-throughput, rapid characterization and analysis. NIST further requires a thermal conductivity measurement method that eliminates the need for extensive sample preparation like dimensional shaping or surface polishing, meaning rougher surface materials like ceramics, foams, and additively manufactured materials of a variety of shapes and sizes can be readily measured.
NIST is seeking information on vendors who could potentially provide the following:
- Instrument that measures thermal conductivity in the range less than or equal to 0.05 W/m-K to greater than or equal to 60 W/m-K.
- Instrument that provides a direct measurement of thermal conductivity, not requiring numerical input values for heat capacity, density, or sample dimensions.
- Instrument that measures the thermal conductivity of solids, liquids, pastes, gels, and foams.
- Thermal conductivity measurement requires only one sample, not requiring splitting of a sample into two pieces or two identical samples.
- Instrument that measures thermal conductivity with an uncertainty of less than or equal to ± 6 %.
- Instrument that provides spatial mapping of thermal conductivity with a motorized xy translation capability of greater than or equal to 100 mm x 100 mm.
- Minimum sample surface area less than or equal to 3 mm by 3 mm.
- Instrument includes all necessary operating software for user interface and analysis.
- Instrument includes all necessary consumables, including applicants and/or container(s) for liquids/pastes/gels.
- Electrical requirements 110/220 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 15 Amps.
Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the item described above. NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in third quarter of FY2025 and awarding a contract no later than fourth quarter FY2025.
NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516, is 1000 employees. Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.
After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. Companies that can provide such items are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to Donald.Graham@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.
The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:
- Name, Address, Unique Entity ID #, and point of contact information of your company.
- Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable.
- Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the item described in this notice.
- A description of your company’s previous experience providing the item described in this notice.
- Indication of whether the item described in this notice are currently offered via your company’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.
- Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.
Responses are limited to a total of twelve (12) pages. The responses must be in MS Word format. Pages shall be 8½-inch x 11-inch, using Times New Roman 11 Point Font. Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.
