Section 1 - NCF User Policy

User responsibilities

If any member of the NCF staff (laboratory director, assistant laboratory director, laboratory manager, or NCF trainer) feels that any user is not capable of carrying out their responsibilities they will immediately terminate their NCF access. The faculty supervisor, and the NCF staff will then determine how to correct the situation and if the NCF access can be restored. Depending on the circumstances of the problem NCF access can be suspended for 2 weeks or more. NOTE: this will happen even if it comes at an awkward time in the user’s research. The NCF user fee will not be refunded in these situations.

Section 2 - Training

All NCF users are entitled to watch other users operate equipment for free, but most of our users find it easier to arrange for personal or group training by our NCF Trainers. The amount of training required to become an official "user" of each piece of equipment varies with the equipment and the individual. The most difficult pieces of equipment take ~3-5 half-day sessions, and several easy pieces can be learned in 1 half-day session. The user must be checked out by NCF laboratory manager Bob Lajos to show that they can safely and responsibly operate the equipment. NCF trainers can check-out a user temporarily to allow him/her to use the equipment. Fees and scheduling of check-outs by NCF staff are the same as for training. Check out cannot be combined with training session (exceptions will occasionally be made) to ensure that the user remembers how to safely and responsibly operate the equipment even few days or weeks later. Users can occasionally get their own work done while being trained depending on the class size.

To request a training, check-out or process assistance, users must fill out an online training request form. This is also where the training schedule is posted each week, and where a user can sign up to receive e-mail notifications of trainings schedule update.The normal procedure is to request a training and NCF staff will attempt to find a mutually agreeable time for the training the following week. This lets the NCF use its staff and equipment as efficiently as possible. On occasion a user needs a training that week, and the NCF staff will make every effort to accommodate their request but the training fees are doubled.

* UIC rates apply only if ALL training participants are affiliated with UIC.

The fee for shared training can be calculated by following formula: 

Total fee =   training hours *   [base charge+ additional hourly fee*additional number of user ]

Base charge is $60 if all trainees are UIC users, and $90 if one of trainees is non-UIC.

Additional hourly fee=$20  

Additional number of user=total trainee number-1

Anyone who has a scheduled training session will be required to email Hongjun Zeng hzeng@uic.edu at least one business day in advance in order to cancel a training session without being charged. In other words if you need to cancel training scheduled for 9:00am Monday August 27th, you must let Hongjun know by 9:00am Friday August 24th. We have to do this in order to keep our training charges as low as possible, and to use our training staff efficiently.

User must be recertified on each piece of equipment he/she is using once a year of uninterrupted access, or at the beginning of interrupted access if the absence lasted three months or longer. This is done to ensure the user is still able to safely operate the equipment after prolonged period of time.

Section 3 - Extended Access Policy

Users who have current clean room access and have qualified for extended access (special safety training required) can have access to the two dry bays in the clean room outside of normal hours (M-F 7am-5pm when UIC is open). The special training required to qualify for extended access privileges will have to be repeated annually and will be offered through the NCF training program. Extended access to the three wet bays (photo, wet etch I, and wet etch II) will require clearing the activity in advance with the NCF laboratory manager, Robert Lajos, Lajos@ece.uic.edu. A second person who also has extended NCF ID access will have to be present and within hearing range in the clean room when anyone is in any of the three wet chemical bays. This means that if someone needs to use the photo bay a second user who also has extended access privileges must also be in the photo bay. All NCF users must notify the NCF laboratory manager of any equipment damage the next day. If equipment damage turns up whose source has not been identified, then those users recorded to have entered on the night in question will risk loss of their extended hours privileges.

Section 4 ­ Precious Metals

The NCF access fee does not include the use of precious metals for evaporation.  Precious metal sources, typically gold and platinum, can be signed out for use.  Your account will be charged only for the material consumed plus a $5 fee for each gram of material used.  The cost of the metal charged will be the cost that the NCF pays for the material and NOT the daily market price. 

The current price charged for use of the NCF gold and platinum evaporation sources are listed below. These prices are subject to change with market conditions. The members of the NCF will always be informed prior to any new posting.

         gold = $41.15/gram (effective 4.4.08)

         platinum = $69.00/gram

Should the precious metal source or crucible be damaged, lost or stolen the User will be held responsible and his or her account will be charged for the full replacement cost.

Users are free to supply their own material or coordinate with others.

Section 5 NCF fees

From October 2005. onwards the following fees apply to anyone who wants to use the NCF facilities.These fees will be reviewed at least once a year and adjusted by the NCF faculty and the Dean of the College of Engineering as needed to make sure the operating expenses of the NCF are covered by these fees.

[PG = Pattern Generator]
[COE = College of Engineering]

For UIC and Non Profit Users following fees will be charged.

Type of User	Administrative Fee	Facility Usage Fee
UIC User	$85/month	$30/hr
Non Profit User	$85/month	$40/hr

Note: For UIC Users the Facility Usage Fee is capped at $1200.

For Industrial and Small Business Users following fees will be charged.

Sign-out Deposit:
New sign-out procedure for LEAVING the NCF, beginning 10/1/05:
In order to motivate our users to clean out lockers, drawers, properly dispose of chemicals, and return keys when their NCF access ends we are going to start charging each user a $200 deposit . This fee will be refunded after the following steps have been completed:
- empty all occupied lockers and drawers
- any chemicals that were brought into NCF must be either disposed of or taken away
- return any locker/room keys to Bob Lajos
- card access to the cleanroom and ERF building must be terminated (NCF's responsibility)
- BALANCES OF CHARGE IS DUE AT CHECKOUT
After these steps are completed, Bob Lajos will send a verification email, and the deposit will be returned. The check will be generated by Richard Alpern.

Photomask costs:
Every time the pattern generator or stepper exposes a 4" or 5" photomask will be counted as one mask. The charges for mask created by industrial users are $200 for a mask created within 2 hours of PG machine time.Any mask exceeding 2 hours limit will be charged in 15 min increments. Charges for UIC and Non profit users are $100 for a mask created under 2 hours.Also any mask exceeding 2 hours limit will be charged in 15 min increments.

Depositions/oxidations:
Charges for Depositions and Oxidation are included in hourly cleanroom access fee.

Chemicals and targets:
List of standard chemicals, gases and targets that NCF is providing for its users can be found on http://www.ncf.uic.edu/MALSupplies.asp

User requests for additional chemicals, PVD targets, and gasses must be approved by the NCF laboratory manager, Bob Lajos, and will be handled on a case by case basis. Users must discuss with Bob Lajos any new chemicals that they want to bring into the NCF, and provide him with MSDS sheets.

Equipment
The sponsor of the user is responsible for the cost of repairing any equipment that was broken by a user who was not officially certified as a "user" of that piece of equipment, or if the equipment was used in an inappropriate manner.

Invoices and Payments
All NCF invoices must be paid within 30 days. Invoices that are past due over 45 days will result in automatic user access suspension until all outstanding invoices are paid in full. Mask and long deposition quotas will be reset to zero.