Combined Sources Sought Notice and Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Contract for X-ray Computed Tomography Microscopeview on SAM.gov

Combined Sources Sought Notice and Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Contract for X-ray Computed Tomography Microscope Notice ID: NIST-AMD-NOISSN-26-30500006 Contract Opportunity Type: Sources Sought Response Date: August 18, 2026 at 11:00 AM ET Product Service Code (PSC): 6650 – Optical Instruments, Test Equipment, Components and Accessories NAICS Code: 334516 – Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with the small business size standard of 1,000 Employees BACKGROUND The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is conducting market research to identify alternative sources that (a) are capable of meeting NIST's minimum requirements for the following commercial products and commercial services and (b) would be interested in competing for that requirement: The Precision Imaging Facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is involved in the characterization of metals, semiconductors, and insulators in support of multiple projects. Materials characterization allows NIST scientists to make direct correlations between material processing, (nano)structure, and resulting properties. This work involves the correlation of processing, structure, and properties of semiconductor material devices using three-dimensional X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Consistent with NIST's mission to develop measurement science, a particular research focus is to evaluate the sources of systematic and statistical error that limit the efficacy of XCT techniques, to devise strategies to mitigate these uncertainties, and to develop metrics that quantify the results. The NIST PIF owns and performs research using a Zeiss Versa XRM 500 microscope system. The system is now over ten years old and is no longer eligible for technical service support from the manufacturer or any third parties. NIST now requires a new XCT microscope for micro-scale three-dimensional imaging of semiconductor materials and devices. The new microscope must meet the requirements detailed below and the ability to produce data which is compatible with data previously produced by NIST's current Zeiss Versa XRM 500 microscope system. Line Item 0001: Description: X-ray Computed Tomography Microscope (One) The XCT instrument shall (1) accept prepared (e.g. a glass tube of powder) or bulk samples (e.g. a computer chip) for analysis, (2) generate a high-energy X-ray beam which is transmitted through the thin specimen, (3) detect the transmitted X-rays to produce an projected image of the specimen, (4) rotate and move the specimen using a built-in high-precision specimen while collecting additional images, and (5) use a software algorithm to reconstruct the collected images into a three-dimensional representation of the specimen. The system shall also include the following: System Resolution The system shall have an ultimate spatial resolution of 450 nm or smaller. The minimum achievable voxel size shall be 40 nm or smaller. The system shall be mechanically a…