Notice of Intent to Noncompetitively Acquire CHIPS LEAP 6000 XR atom probe instrument

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 13.501(a) The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) is involved in materials characterization efforts to support multiple projects. Materials characterization allows NIST scientists to make direct correlations between material processing, (nano)structure, and resulting properties. This work involves three-dimensional (3D) atomic imaging of nanoscale samples in an atom probe tomography (APT) instrument. An APT instrument: (1) accepts nanoscale needle-shaped specimens and specimen array coupons for analysis, (2) triggers field ion evaporation of the specimen, (3) detects the emitted ions in time and space, and (4) generates a 3-Dimensional (3D) computational reconstruction of the evaporated volume that can be used in further analysis. In this work, the APT instrument should trigger field ion evaporation with either a voltage pulse, a deep-ultraviolet (λ

Consistent with NIST’s mission to perform and develop measurement science, a particular research focus of the instrument will be the development of reference materials, benchmarks, data sets, and standard practices to characterize, quantify, and ameliorate sources of measurement bias and uncertainty, thereby improving accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility of APT measurements.

A local electrode atom probe (LEAP) tomography instrument. The APT system will be installed in the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) at the NIST Gaithersburg campus. Consistent with NIST’s mission to perform and develop measurement science, a particular research focus of the instrument will be the development of reference materials, benchmarks, data sets, and standard practices to characterize, quantify, and ameliorate sources of measurement bias and uncertainty, thereby improving accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility of APT measurements. Samples of interest include (but are not limited to) semiconductor materials, microfabricated device structures, reference test structures, and metal alloys.

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:

Local Electrode Atom Probe (LEAP) Tomography System: A LEAP instrument: (1) accepts nanoscale needle-shaped specimens and specimen array coupons for analysis, (2) triggers field ion evaporation of the specimen, (3) detects the emitted ions in time and space, and (4) generates a 3-Dimensional (3D) computational reconstruction of the evaporated volume that can be used in further analysis. In addition, to these requirements, the following unique specifications are also required to be met:

• The LEAP instrument must be able to use of specimen array coupons for mounting multiple specimens for efficient APT data acquisition and scripted/automated acquisitions.


• The APT instrument must use local electrodes.


• The LEAP must have a 2-dimensional position-sensitive ion detector capable of multi-hit detection with a nominal detection efficiency in excess of 50%.


• The LEAP must have automated and scripted acquisition features.


• The reflectron ion-optic used in the LEAP-6000 XR ion detection system provides an energy-compensated flight path to enhance mass resolution, at similar detection efficiency, as compared the LEAP-4000 straight flight path instruments. The high mass resolution is required for proper spectral peak identification and accurate quantitative analyses.


• The LEAP must have a DUV laser for laser-pulsed acquisitions. T


• The LEAP must have synchronous voltage+laser pulsing to enhance element detection limits.


• The NIST laboratory in Gaithersburg currently has a CAMECA local electrode atom probe (LEAP) 4000-series instrument that is 14+ years old and will be designated obsolete, to permit direct replacement of the existing instrument and to facilitate re-use of the existing lab space and utility connections (electric, process chilled water, compressed gasses) without room renovations, and using the same systems software LEAP system compatible with this instrument is needed.

NIST conducted market research from August 2024 to October 2024 by NIST Staff via searched the following sites using terms ““LEAP,” “LEAP 6000 XR,” “Local Electrode Atom Probe,” and “Atom Probe”: Ability One/Federal Prison Industries, Inc.; NIST Task and Delivery Order Contracts, NASA SEWP V, Inventories of the requiring agency or excess from other agencies, GSA Advantage, Dynamic Small Business Search, and Google.com search. Only CAMECA Instruments, Inc was found in these searches as capable.

In addition to the above searches the group also utilized atom probe literature and news, attending a biennial meeting to the APT&M (Atom Probe Tomography and Microscopy) in 2023, discussions with colleagues at this and other technical conferences. Through this research NIST identified only one potential source which the staff assessed as being capable of meeting the minimum requirements.

A review of the recent purchase of an atom-probe system in 2023 (1333ND23PNB680256) for the user facility in NIST-Boulder was completed as a sole source after the sources sought and notice of intent to sole source only received a response from CAMECA. Lastly sources sought NIST-SS25-CHIPS-0008 was posted in October - Novemenr 2024 with two responses. Only they respon from CAMECA was found capable of meeting requriements.

These searches were to determine what sources could meet NIST’s minimum requirements. The results of that market research revealed that only CAMECA Instruments Inc.; 5470 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711; UEI: GE2SRXMY74F3 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.