Who meets India’s SCL requirements?

The vendors who do not participate in the Pre-Bid Conference for EOI will not be considered and shall be disqualified.

General Instructions for the submission of Expression of Interest (EOI)

1. The proposal should be submitted as an Expression of Interest (EOI), clearly indicating the expertise of the vendor in the design, development, fabrication process and testing of VCSELs, Photovoltaic devices and MMICs along with Company profile and previous experience in this field.

2. EOI should contain all the relevant details and supporting documents including whitepapers / patents.

http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/tenders/scl_eoi_dpg_2016.pdf

Out of the four companies involved it is very apparent that only POET has a monolithic platform that is capable of meeting all requirements at the time of the Pre-Bid Conference. Interestingly the other companies who participated were requested to check the feasibility of offering the missing applications to fulfill the requirement of the RFP. To me the statements represent a nice way of saying no to those who are not qualified as it would be highly unlikely that these companies could redesign and submit patents supporting the new design in such a short time period.

For and on behalf of The Director, Head-Purchase & Stores, Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) invites Expression of Interest (EOI) from the competent manufacturers/developers having sufficient technical expertise in design and development of Gallium Arsenide technology based Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Photovoltaic devices and Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) who are interested in transferring the technology for the same to SCL.

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For the company that was only able to provide MMIC capability the SCL requested the following:

The requirement is of a technology supporting the development of Gallium Arsenide based Technology for the monolithic integration of RF and photonics devices like VCSEL, Photovoltaic devices and MMICs to SCL leading to the development of monolithic Focal Plane Array (FPA), RF MMICs, VCSELs, VCSEL arrays and triple junction photovoltaic solutions. The vendor was requested to check the feasibility of offering the same to SCL instead of solely MMICs under the technology transfer.

For the company (Russian) that wanted to omit MMIC capability the SCL requested the following:

The requirement is of a technology supporting the development of Gallium Arsenide Technology for the monolithic integration of RF and photonics devices like VCSEL, Photovoltaic devices and MMICs to SCL leading to the development of monolithic Focal Plane Array (FPA), RF MMICs, VCSELs, VCSEL arrays and triple junction photovoltaic solutions. The vendor was requested to check the feasibility of offering the same to SCL instead of solely photonic devices under the technology transfer.

And the remaining company is solar.

So it really does appear that there are no exceptions to what the SCL is asking for and it appears that POET would be the only company with a platform that has all the capabilities listed. And as noted at the beginning of this post only the four companies (including POET) that participated in the Pre-Bid conference will be considered.

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Scope of Work The process technology offered for transfer should support the development of both Enhancement and Depletion mode Hetero-structure Field Effect Transistors (HFETs), VCSELs and Photovoltaic devices (multi-junction solar cells). The developed circuit should combine optical (lasers, detectors, modulators and amplifiers) with electrical (HFETs and HBTS) devices monolithically on GaAs.

The transfer of the technology should lead to development of capabilities of indigenous design, realization, testing, and qualification of the above devices for Space, Industrial and Commercial applications. This activity will establish a qualified baseline process technology that can be used to manufacture RF MMICs, VCSELs, VCSEL arrays and triple junction photovoltaic solutions. The process should also support the development of infrared detectors that can co-exist with the above digital circuits to create a monolithic Focal Plane Array (FPA) using GaAs technology which can be taken up subsequent to realisation of monolithic VCSELs, Photovoltaic devices and MMICs.

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It sounds like a slam dunk but we will have to wait and see.