Code 553 Aligner/Bonder

Statement of Work

1.  **Introduction**

The government will procure an aligner/bonder system for applied
research in the area of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS.) The
aligner/bonder shall be capable of aligning one silicon and one glass
substrate of up to 100 mm diameter and anodically bonding them. The
aligner shall also be capable of mask alignment for purposes of
lithography, and shall have backside alignment capability. Installation,
initial training and all necessary documentation shall be provided with
this system. It is the goal of this procurement to purchase a system
which meets or exceeds the detailed requirements listed below.
Additional options are listed in section three; these options are not
considered requirements, but their availability will be given
consideration according to the selection criteria listed in section
four.

2.  **Requirements**

    1.  Alignment

The aligner/bonder shall be capable of aligning a 100 mm. diameter
silicon substrate to either a photomask or a glass wafer. The tool shall
be capable of backside alignment using a video capture and image storage
technique. The tool shall be capable of maintaining a substrate gap of
up to 100 m during alignment. Both the top side and bottom side
alignment microscopes shall include some combination of objectives,
eyepieces and/or digital zoom capability which provides low
magnification (in the range 50x- 160x) and high magnification (in the
range 200x-400x) settings. The final mask to wafer alignment tolerance
shall be at most 1 m for top side alignment in hard contact mode, and 2
m for bottom side alignment. Wafer to wafer bond alignment tolerance is
discussed below. The aligner shall have the ability to store
applications programs in memory.

2.2 Wafer transport

The aligner/bonder shall include a reliable system for maintaining
alignment of the aligned silicon and glass substrates during transport
from the aligner to the bonder. The total alignment tolerance for the
bonded substrates shall be no greater than 5 m.

2.3 Bonding

The bond chamber shall allow bonding in a controlled process gas
environment, in pressures down to 1x10^-3^ mbar. Substrate temperature
shall be adjustable up to 500^o^C during the bond process, with
adjustable bond force of up to 3000 N and bond voltage of up to 2000 V.
The system shall be capable of bonding multiple substrates, with stack
thicknesses of up to 2.5 mm.

2.4 Lithography

The aligner shall be easily convertible to mask alignment mode for use
in lithography. Exposure optics and lamp, as well as a controller shall
be provided for this purpose. The UV source shall be a 350 watt Mercury
arc lamp with a spectral range that includes both 365 nm. and 405 nm.
The tool shall be capable of performing exposure with wafers in
mechanical contact (soft contact), with mechanical contact and a
nitrogen cushion (hard contact) and in vacuum contact. Light uniformity
shall be better than +-5% across a 100 mm. wafer.

2.5 Installation and training, warranty

The aligner/bonder shall be installed by the offeror in the NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center Detector Development Lab clean room. Initial
equipment and basic process training shall be offered upon installation.
The system shall be under warranty for one year after installation.

**3. Options**

1.  Tooling for 150 mm. substrates

Tooling shall be available to allow the alignment and bonding of 150 mm
substrates. This upgrade shall be available without major
reconfiguration or retro-fitting of the system.

2.  Tooling for silicon to silicon fusion bonding

Tooling shall be available to allow the ability to align and pre-bond
two silicon wafers for annealing in a high temperature furnace.

3.  Bonder Cooling System

The bonder shall have an external water or other cooling system capable
of rapidly bringing the wafer and chuck to room temperature, in order to
decrease process time.

4.  High Vacuum Operation

The bond chamber shall be capable of high vacuum operation (down to
1x10^-5^ mbar.)

5.  Process Support

Technical support shall be available at a level beyond that of hardware
maintenance and repair. This support shall include off-site and/or
on-site training in the characterization of existing bond processes and
the development of new bond recipes.

6.  Safety Certification

The aligner/bonder will have a safety certification such as S-293
compliant, CE certified, or other accepted equipment safety standard.

**4. Aligner/Bonder Evaluation Criteria**

[Meeting the Requirements]{.underline}

The offeror must provide in the proposal an estimate of the performance
of the aligner/bonder relative to the requirements in the Statement of
Work.

[Option Availability]{.underline}

The offeror must describe in the proposal the availability and cost of
each of the options described in section 3.

[Past Performance in Successfully Delivering Similar
Systems]{.underline}

The offeror must provide at least 3 references for the same
aligner/bonder system being quoted and delivered within the past year.
Include : Company Name, Phone Number, Contact and Order Number or
approximate delivery schedule.

[Delivery Schedule]{.underline}

The offeror must provide nominal and worst-case estimates for the
delivery and installation time for the aligner/bonder system based upon
previous history of deliveries.

**5. Award**

Award will be made to the lowest priced, technically acceptable vendor,
using

the above four evaluation factors weighted in the following order:

Meeting the requirements -- Most important

Option availability, Past performance in providing similar systems, and
Delivery schedule are of equal importance.

Final payment shall be made after installation and training has been
completed and demonstration that the system meets or exceeds the
requirements.