UNM User rates & External User rates

PROCESS LIST 

The UNM MTTC Cleanroom supports several microfabrication and MEMS processes, including

  • photolithography steps (resist spinning, softbake (hotplate/Blue M oven), contact exposure with front and backside alignment, bath developing, quick dump rinse, spin rinse drying, hardbake), maskless 3D litho (Smart Print UV),
  • wet etch (dedicated KOH, SC1, SC2 and HF baths),
  • solvent /acid benches for cleaning and stripping,
  • RIE plasma etch (single wafer), Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE, Alcatel model AMS-100-SDE),
  • parylene coating,
  • diffusion processing (oxidation wet and dry, N-Dope and drive, P-Dope and drive, LPCVD silicon nitride deposition, LPCVD polysilicon deposition, LPCVD oxide deposition),
  • vacuum evaporator, five-source reactive-gas sputter system, E-Beam cure, forming gas diffusion,
  • CO2 critical dryer, ADT wafer dicer and taper,
  • metrology (film thickness measurement, four point probe, interferometer, microscopes, contact profilometer, and Phenom desktop SEM).

Users of the cleanroom are expected to have their process steps checked by cleanroom staff to make sure the chemicals and gasses are compatible with those supported by the cleanroom, and that procedures are within the safety guidelines of the cleanroom.

USERS RATE STRUCTURE 


For FY-22 (effective 1 October, 2021), NM-based university researchers (academic), non-NM-based researchers (external academic), federal laboratory (non-academic) and commercial customers (non-academic), are charged for use of the MTTC Cleanroom on a monthly billing cycle per the following schedule:

  • There is no hourly fee for use of the cleanroom for teaching lab sessions directly related to state-wide university, community college and high school courses. There may be a charge for materials, depending on the number of students and the complexity of the process.
  • The Base Lab fee, primarily, covers photolithography (Blue-M oven, coater (CEE), contact and back-side aligner (Karl-Suss), KOH etch bath, HMDS oven, hot plate, microscopes (Nikon, with internet connection), RCA clean bench, solvent bench, spin rinse dryer) and some metrology tools (4-point probe station, LCR-CV).  There are additional hourly fees for the CO2 Critical Drier, Dicer, DRIE (Alcatel), Electro-plater, Furnace (Steed), Interferometer (Veeco), Ion Mill, Parylene Coater, Plasma etcher (March), Plating, Profiler (Veeco Dektak-8), SEM (Phenom ProX), Sputter tool (AJA Intl), and Vacuum Evaporator (Veeco).  See Rate Table herewith.
  • Typically, on university federal contracts, there will be an overhead rate charged to the cleanroom fees, however, this charge does not accrue to the MTTC Cleanroom.
  • Commercial users of the cleanroom are expected to sign a Facilities Use Agreement (FUA) prior to use of the facility. A PDF of this Agreement is available for consideration.
  • Users who need MTTC to purchase chemicals and supplies will be charged a 15% service fee on top of the material cost.
  • The cleanroom Base Lab fee (ramp-mesa-ramp model) applies in parallel with the tool rate (hours uncapped), even if you are not present in the cleanroom during tool operations. Running multiple tools (hours uncapped) simultaneously will not multiply the application of the Base Lab fee.  Note that the Base Lab fee is reset to zero at the beginning of each month.
  • Users who break tools, such as running power supplies at maximum capacity for extended periods, or forcing wafers into load chambers until they malfunction, or running tools to their mechanical stops, or driving the Dektak profilometer stylus through a wafer, will be charged for the service call required to bring the tool back to proper specifications.
  • Billing will be based on calendar months.  Invoices will be mailed out by UNM, per the Facilities Use Agreement, within thirty (30) days after the end of each calendar month.  Payment will be due within thirty (30) days from the date of the invoice.
  • Hours worked by individuals employed by the same company or the same university lab will be added together each month and the billing structure then applied (see Rate Table).
  • Junior Faculty, defined as NM Assistant Professors in the pre Mid-Probationary stage, will be billed at 75% of the UNM base rate.

 fy22-mttc-fab-rates_300.png

Click here for FY21 rate table page.

Click here for FY-20 rate table page.

Click here for FY-19 rate table page.

USERS GUIDE AND SIGN UP

A Users Guide for the MTTC Cleanroom is available from the MTTC Cleanroom staff.

Sign-up sheets for the scheduling of tool use are posted in the MTTC Cleanroom facilities. Users can schedule up to two months in advance on the rolling calendar.

Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. 
CLick HERE to contact.

Priority of scheduling is:

  1. training for student labs related to regular university and community college classes and workshops, 
  2. university research and development, and 
  3. commercial sector use (40% of total tool-hours capacity, minimum). Computerized (internet) signup is at the above "Signup" button.

USERS LIST 

The MTTC Cleanroom users have included: UNM undergraduate and graduate students, CNM and SIPI community college students, UNM faculty and student researchers, regional High School faculty members and High School students (via dual-enrollment at CNM), Advent Solar, AgilOptics, BioDirection, Emcore, Defiant Technologies, Gratings Inc., HT Micro Analytical, InterCrossIP, Incitor, K-Tech, LANL, Life Bioscience, Mechanical Solutions, MEMX, MicroNano Platforms, Optipulse, Optomec, Qynergy, Prima Innotech, Radiant Technologies, Senda Micro Tech, Skinfrared, Surfect, SNL, 3D Glass Solutions, Trilumina and VeraLight.

CLASSES

The MTTC cleanroom supports the following UNM courses:
• UNM ECE-574 Microelectronics Processing course
• UNM NSMS-519 MEMS Transducer Devices and Technology
• UNM ChNE-586 Statistics for Design of Experiments in Semiconductor Manufacturing, 
as well as MEMS courses at CNMCC. Periodically, the MTTC cleanroom supports week-long (45 hrs) short courses in MEMS, for high school faculty and community college faculty (for information, please contact mep@unm.edu). A MEMS device, such as a pressure sensor, is produced during these short courses.

REFERENCES

  • Small Times (May/June 2007): “Community Colleges are Critical”, by Staff, Vol. 7, No. 3, pg. 28.

SUPPORT

The UNM MTTC Cleanroom Project gratefully acknowledges support from the,

  • State of New Mexico, for capital and operating funds,
  • University of New Mexico, for capital funds,
  • U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA), for capital funds,
  • National Science Foundation, for MRI funds (ECS-0521461),
  • Intel Corporation, for equipment donations and operating funds,
  • Next Generation Economy (NGE) industry cluster, for equipment donations,
  • Philips Semiconductor, for equipment donations,
  • AT&T, for equipment donations.

LINKS