The MRC welcomes users from across campus, other academic institutions, government labs, and industry partners. Equipment fees are used to recover operating costs and support use of the facility.
A tiered fee structure—based on affiliation and tool category—helps ensure sustainable operations while enabling collaborative research and prototyping. For academic users, there is no charge for time spent in the labs, only for the time-based use of charged equipment.
Additional charges for certain precious materials may be incurred in the normal operation of equipment. These charges are detailed below.
Tool Rates
Academic
To encourage use of the facility and help academic users budget for intense use, a “soft cap” for tool charges is employed at MRC. Once a given PI group’s tool charges exceed $3,500 in a month period, subsiquent tool costs during that month are discounted by 80%.
A detailed breakdown of academic rates is given in the table below and the tools in each category are given in the appendix.
Non-Academic
Non-academic rates are not subject to the soft cap model and include a $34 per day of facility use fee in addition to the hourly tool-based rate charges below.
| Tool Category | Hourly Rate (Academic) | Hourly Rate (Non-Academic) |
|---|---|---|
| Etching | $40 | $73 |
| Hoods | $13 | $14 |
| Packaging | $20 | $60 |
| Thermal | $13 | $45 |
| Deposition | $46 | $85 |
| Photolithography | $28 | $61 |
| Characterization | $44 | $135 |
| Metrology | $13 | $51 |
| E-beam | $70 | $86 |
| JEOL 8100 | $99 | $459 |
| Corial 360i | $87 | $218 |
| Ion Milling | $46 | $120 |
| Angstrom | $61 | $179 |
| Labor | $81 | $118 |
| Tool Training | $25 | $119 |
Precious Metals Charges
(Outside the Rate Cap)
Precious metals (e.g., Au, Pt, and other high value materials) will be:
- Billed separately from tool time/standard cleanroom charges, and
- Excluded from the $3,500 monthly soft cap (i.e., precious metals do not count toward the cap and are not reduced by the above cap mechanism).
This change is implemented because precious metals costs are highly variable and materially driven; separating these charges ensures transparency and preserves predictable tool access pricing. Starting March 1, 2026, gold evaporated on KJL electron beam tool will be charged at a rate of $5/nm. Additional billing details for other precious metals and other tools (materials list, unit basis, and invoicing mechanics) will be shared prior to their implementation as this process rolls out.
Example Monthly Charge for Academic Users ($4,000 Total Usage)
Assume a PI’s posted cleanroom usage totals $4,000 in a month (excluding precious metals).
Step 1 — Apply the soft cap rule
- First $3,500 is billed at 100% → $3,500
- Amount above cap: $4,000 − $3,500 = $500
- Above cap billed amount (20% of $500): 0.20 × $500 = $100
So, without any phase-in subsidy, the month would be billed as:
- $3,500 + $100 = $3,600
Step 2 — Apply Precious Metals Charges
Charges for precious metal use are calculated on a standard per nanometer deposited rate for the given metal deposited after the cap has been applied. For example, if the PI’s group deposits 20 nm of gold on the KJL electron beam evaporator in a month, that deposition thickness would be multiplied by the charge rate for gold ($5/nm) so $100 in precious metal charges outside of the cap would be added to the PI’s bill.