A. Description: This is a Sources Sought Notice only. This is not a request for proposal, but a survey to locate potential sources. No further information is available from the Contracts Division. This synopsis/sources sought does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposals, nor a Request for Quotations, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue an order or otherwise pay for the information solicited. B. Objective: To find a source that is qualified to perform the requirements listed below. This notice is for informational purposes only. C. Requirement: The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) seeks partners to transition a technology based on a wholly new concept for storing information on magnetic disks. In this technology, instead of using the direction of magnetization of domains, ARL stores information in the form of bits with different magnetic permeability to produce a read only memory (ROM). Since the magnetic permeability is an intrinsic property, magnetic permeability bits are insensitive to inadvertent exposure to a magnetic field, large E&M pulses, and temperature changes. Further, they can be unaffected by 10 Mega rad of gamma radiation from Co 60. This technology has broad applicability as ROM for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) and for archiving. It also can be used for Random Access Memory (RAM). Since the usual mechanisms, such as stray fields, for losing information will not affect our media and we do not know of any other mechanism for losing information, it is expected that information written in this form should have a long retention time. Information stored in the form of permeability bits has the advantage that one can avoid the cost of temperature and humidity control needed for storing information on magnetic tape. Further, the access to information will be much faster than it is for magnetic tape. The bits are originally deposited in a form in which they have a high permeability. Selected high permeability bits of materials, such as Metglas or bilayers of copper and permalloy, are converted to low permeability bits via a thermal process that can be either heating with a laser or ohmic heating. The permeability bits are read by using a magnetic sensor to measure how the bits affect a magnetic probe field. The types of magnetic sensor used to read the bits include magnetic tunnel junctions and spin transfer oscillators. A read head can be used for ROM in RAID or for archiving. There must be a sensor at each RAM cell. We have demonstrated this technology on a micron scale. We are interested in finding partners that will demonstrate this technology on a nanometer scale and expedite bringing this technology to market. A potential, direct route for writing nanoscale permeability bits is to use a variant of heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). An alternative route is to develop CMOS processing to do heating at each cell. Possible arrangements for achieving these objectives include collaborations, licensing, or Cooperative Research & Development Agreements (CRADA). Relevant ARL IP on this technology is Provisional patent # 62092994, Read-write non-erasable memory with heat assisted magnetic recording head, US Patents # 8,824,200, Nonvolative memory cells programable by phase change, 7,233,142 Planer reader of non-erasable magnetic media and local permeability, 6,762,954 Local probe of magnetic properties. Interested companies or laboratories are preferred but not required to have experience and expertise in one (1) or more of the following areas Magnetic recording Device development; and Development of magnetic material Potential partners must have a significant interest in developing this technology so that they either team with ARL to demonstrate the technology, provide funds to demonstrate the technology, license the technology, or enter into a CRADA. CRADAs provide the potential for significant competitive advantages for our partners, including potential exclusive licenses to ARL technologies. D. Responses: All interested parties should notify this office in writing, mail, fax, or e-mail within the posted date. Responses shall include: (1) To what extent each of the specifications can be met. Include your type of business (i.e. commercial, academia) and whether your organization is large or small based on the 1,000 employee size standard that accompanies NAICS code 334613. (2) Past experience/ performance through the description of completed projects. Responses to this sources sought synopsis are due no later than 11:59 pm eastern standard time on 01 March 2015. Submissions should be emailed to Hilton A. Thompson,
[email protected]. Faxed submissions can be sent to (301)394-2889. Mailed submissions can be sent to the address in block 7, ATTN: Hilton A. Thompson. Questions concerning this sources sought synopsis may be directed to Hilton A. Thompson at
[email protected] or (301)394-2889. Please be advised that .zip and .exe files cannot be accepted.