The NanoScale Fabrication and Characterization Facility (NFCF) operates on a fee basis. Internal users will provide a 32 digit University of Pittsburgh account number from their supervisor or PI in FOM in order to support their research and work in the lab. External users are invoiced and payment may be submitted via check.
If you have any questions, needs, or concerns related to below details, please email nfcf@pitt.edu for assistance
The below chart indicates the cost of service for each equipment listed in the lab, please review all details. Prices are updated for use starting July 1, 2021 and forward.
Important Notes to Understanding Pricing - Reservations are encouraged for all equipment, and required for high demand equipment. Length of reservations should be sufficient to complete the work planned during your run. - No-show and automatic cancellation of reservation occurs 30 minutes after the start of your reservation, you must be in the lab before signing in to check machine. - Use of equipment is charged the cost of one hour for each log in. After one hour, each subsequent minute is prorated cost. - FOM tracks actual usage hours to generate bills, therefore forgetting to log out it can significantly increase a bill. Please contact nfcfadmn@pitt.edu with correct times in case of forgotten logoff. |
For Staff Hours Related to Training/ Service Staff Assistance Hourly Cost | Internal Pitt Users | External non-profit | External Commercial | | NFCF Facility Staff Hourly Cost | | Training Hours- equipment training hours | $60 | $80 | $140 | | Service hours- staff scientific processing | $60 | $80 | $140 |
Pleast Note that all staff hours are to be charged as an add-on fee, to be calculated as follows: | Staff Hours (shown here) + Related Equipment Usage Hours (as indicated below) Total Amount |
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Please note that for any of the following equipment, staff provided training is required as prerequisite to independent use of the machine. The above costs are applicable during training in the same way that they are for service hours.
For Cleanroom/ Fabrication FacilityCleanroom Hourly Pricing by NFCF Service | Internal Pitt Users | External non-profit | External Commercial | Equipment included in service offering: | CR Service 1: Fabrication Services | $17 | $45 | $70 | e-beam Evaporator (Thermionics)
HMDS Oven
Hoods(4) (Acid, Lithography Developer/ spinner)
Mask Aligners (2: Suss and Quintel)
Optical Microscope
Parylene Deposition
Plasma Asher (March PX500)
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD)
Rapid Thermal Anneal (RTA - SSI Solaris100)
Reactive Ion Etcher (RIE by Trion)
Surface Profiler
Tube Furnace Oxidation/ Annealing | CR Service 2: Advanced Lithography Capabilities | $33 | $90 | $130 | Direct Laser Writer (MLA100)
Disco D321 Dicer
Electron Beam Lithography (EBL Raith e-line and EBPG 5150 100kV)
Nanoscribe | CR Serivice 3: Advanced Deposition and Etching Techniques | $33 | $75 | $115 | Angstrom Sputtering System
ICP-RIE PlasmaTherm (Cl and Fl)
Coater (PDC 2010)
Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition System (PE-ALD Fiji G2)
Plassys E-Beam Evaporator
Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)
Sputter/ Evaporation System (AJA) | | Add-on: Staff Time (hourly, as detailed above) | $60 | $80 | $140 | As Detailed above | | First hour of any equipment usage is full price |
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For Characterization Facility Characterization Hourly Pricing by NFCF Service | Internal Pitt Users | External non-profit | External Commercial | Equipment included in service offering: | Characterization Service 1: Characterization Services | $20 | $50 | $80 | Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC)
Ellipsometer
Fourier Transform InfraRed Scpectroscopy (FT-IR)
Microspectrophotomer (MSP)
Raman Microscope
Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer (TGA) | Characterization Service 2: Transmission Electron Microscope | $55 | $115 | $150 | FIB-SEM Scios Dual Beam FEI System
Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope (Hitachi 9500)
Transmission Electron Miscroscope (JOEL 2100F) | Characterization Serivice 3: Scanning Electron Microscope | $40 | $100 | $140 | Electron Probe MicroAnalyzer (EPMA)
Zeiss SIGMA 500VP SEM Apreo SEM with EDAX EDS and EBSD | Characterization Service 4: X-Ray Diffraction | $30 | $60 | $90 | Bruker X-Ray Diffractometer
Panalytical X-Ray Diffarctometer | Characterization Serivce 5: Aberration-corrected TEM | $82 | $145 | $210 | Titan Themis G2 200 Probe Cs Corrected Scanning TEM | Characterization Add-on 1: General Sample Preparation (hourly) | $20 | $50 | $75 | Fischione Dimple Grinder Model 200
Fischione Plasma Cleaner Model 1070
Fischione SEM Mill Model 1060
Fischione TEM Mill Moldel 1050
Fischione Twin-Jet E-Polisher Model 110
Fischione Ultrasonic Cutter Model 170
PDMS preparation area
PIE Tergeo EM Plasma cleaner
Denton Sputter Coater | Characterization Add-on 2: Fischione NanoMill | $25 | $55 | $85 | | | Add-on: Staff Time (hourly, as detailed above) | $60 | $80 | $140 | As Detailed above | | First hour of any equipment usage is full price |
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Other important cost related items and incentive programs: Consumables | | | Material | unit | cost | Deposition Metals available in Plassys and AJA deposition systems and Angstrom Thermal Evaporation System | Gold (Au 99.999%) - Discounted price is available on Angstrom Thermal Evaporation system with this material
| Nanometer on Plassys Nanometer on Angstrom | $1.50 $1.00 | Platinum (Pt 99.999%) | nanometer | $1.00 | Palladium (Pd 99.995%) | nanometer | $0.90 | Silver (Ag 99.999%) | nanometer | $0.05 | Gold Palladium custom mix (AuPd 70/30 AT% purity 99.95%) | nanometer | $2.00 | Metals-Other currently available | various | no charge | Various other available supplies | All listed in FOM | Consumable Fee Schedule |
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Attendance Fees | | | No-Show and Cancellation Fee Policy | Internal | External | | | Pitt Users | All External | Cancellation greater than 24 hours prior to reservation | No Charge | No Charge | Cancellation less than 24 hours prior to reservation No Show on any reservation 30 minutes after start time | Equipment access sanctions | Equivalent cost 1 hour equipment |
| Pitt Internal Users Only | Available for Internal University of Pittsburgh Users only. An Equipment usage cap will be implemented with a monthly/ yearly notch to enable cost-prediction for grant proposals. Academic monthly cap per PI group: $2,750 per month. Academic yearly cap per PI group: $27,500 per fiscal year. These caps apply only to equipment use. Training, sample/ process service, consumables, and cancellation/ no-show fees are not capped and will be billed as a surcharge. |
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