Services

Procedures and paperwork to get your students/employees into the NanoFab.

If you are looking for fabrication services by NanoFab staff, please see this section.

Hourly rates can be found on this page.

Please choose the appropriate section:

Lab Orientation

The lab orientation takes between 1-2 hours and is scheduled based on new user demand. 

The orientation will explain actual lab use, equipment scheduling and trainings, discuss safety policy, enter users into the access system, tour the gowning room area and explain any questions about lab or tool use.  Please feel free to call or email to discuss in more detail. See the below sections for the additional info needed to attend a lab orientation.

Onboarding for out-of-town visitors

For lab users visiting from out of town, please start your scheduling with us at least 3-4 weeks in advance so we can help you schedule a lab orientation and tool trainings around your planned trip dates, and help make your trip efficient and productive. Contact Demis for advice on which tools to get trained on.

U.C. Santa Barbara Researchers

Applies to: UCSB faculty, post-docs, graduate students, undergraduates, interns etc.

• Contact the Lab Director, Brian Thibeault for lab access.

Industry and non-U.C. Academic Institutions

Applies to: Employees of Companies (for-profit), and researchers from Universities/Academic Institutions that are not part for the University of California system. This includes Government research labs in any country.

Follow ALL instructions below:

If you think your institution has previously sent people to use our lab, some of this paperwork may already be in place. Contact the Lab Director to find out if that is the case.

Paperwork for new Institutions (Non-UC)

For new institutions to gain access to the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, please provide the following documents. Email the docs to both Claudia Gutierrez and the Lab Director.

1. Submit a Detailed project description (download) to the Lab Director.
2. Nanofab staff acceptance
3. UCSB Facility Use Agreement (download) signed by an official company signatory (attached form)
4. Provide a General Liability Insurance Certificate
   1. Commercial Form General Liability requirements:
      1. Combined Single Limit per Occurrence: $1,000,000
      2. General Aggregate, Bodily Injury, Property Damage: $2,000,000
      3.  The Regents of the University of California must be named as an additional insured.
      4. An example certificate is attached (download).  Your certificate should have the same basic format and information as shown. The certificate should be emailed to the Lab Director.
      5. The CERTIFICATE HOLDER shall be identified as follows:  

         The Regents of the University of California

         Contracts & Property Office

         SAASB Bldg., Rm. 3203

         University of California

         Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2095

5. Provide Proof of Workers’ Compensation Insurance or equivalent coverage. This is required under California state law. If the required certificate of insurance is not received and approved prior to the Facility User's intended use of facility, Facility User shall not be allowed to use University facilities.

Tasks for each Lab User

For EACH researcher that will enter the lab, please follow these directions:

1. Fill out, sign, and return the UCSB Blanket Liability Waiver (download) to the Lab director
2. Email Claudia Gutierrez to request a UCSBNetID (required) and to gain access to the UCSB Learning Center for basic on-line safety training.
3. Take the UCSB EH&S online safety course once you have gained access.
4. Request UCSB Nanofab orientation/training by the lab manager with review of the lab policy which can be found at the following link: NanoFab Lab Rules
5. Please read this FAQ page (link here) for a list of items you may need to bring to the lab for your research.

Other U.C. Campuses

Applies To: Researchers at other University of California campuses, apart from U.C Santa Barbara.

Follow ALL instructions below:

Paperwork for new UC institutions

For new UC institutions to gain access to the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, please provide the following documents. Send the files to both Claudia Gutierrez and the Lab Director.

1. Submit a Detailed project description (download) to Demis D. John & Brian Thibeault
2. Nanofab staff acceptance
3. Facilities Use - Memorandum of Understanding - Inter-UC Campus Use (download) - signed by Individual lab users. Attachment A Lists UCSB facilities covered by the agreement.

Tasks for each UC Lab User

For EACH researcher that will enter the lab, please follow these directions:

1. Fill out, sign, and return the UCSB Blanket Liability Waiver (download) to the Lab director
2. Email Claudia Gutierrez to request a UCSBNetID (required) and to gain access to the UCSB Learning Center for basic on-line safety training.
3. Take the UCSB EH&S online safety course once you have gained access.
4. Request UCSB Nanofab orientation/training by the lab manager with review of the lab policy which can be found at the following link: NanoFab Lab Rules
5. Please read this FAQ page (link here) for a list of items you may need to bring to the lab for your research.

Fabrication Services by NanoFab Staff

Perform fabrication services via NanoFab staff, instead of your staff/employees entering our lab.

Important Info on Fabrication Services

• Rates are listed here.
  • We bill for both "Use of Facility + Equipment" plus "Dedicated staff support" time per hour.
  • This is similar to your own employee using the lab.
• You will work directly with Demis or his staff to schedule the work, if the project is accepted.
  • Any project must first be accepted by our Project Scientists.
  • We have limited staff and are not a foundry, and we will only accept jobs that we are capable of performing with success.
• There is no guarantee of research results or success in fabrication. We may also be able to suggest other ways to get your devices made in our lab if Staff use is not appropriate for your project.
• You will be billed for the Actual time and materials required during the job, regardless of project outcome.
  • We can provide only a rough estimate of time and cost because it's an hourly service, not a "quote".
• We send out bills monthly, with payment expected as Net30; Credit card payments are accepted.
• Publications Policy - fabrication executed by NanoFab Staff is often significant "intellectual contribution". Acknowledgement of NanoFab use is required at minimum.

Request Remote Fabrication Services

Submitting jobs for "remote" fabrication services requires the following steps:

1.  Contact us (email us) to determine project feasibility or ask questions.

2.  Nanofab Staff acceptance of project.

Paperwork for Fabrication Services

3. Submit the Project Info and Description Form (download) to Demis D. John and Brian Thibeault

• No signatures required, only project info and contact info for internal billing purposes.

4.  Return the UCSB Service Agreement (download)

• Requires signature from your institution (signature authority required, typically not the professor or graduate student. Business or Contracts Bept., for example)

• Only one agreement is needed per institution. Ask us to find out if your inst. already has one in place.

• If you are a UCSB Group, we don't need the Service Agreement from you, only the Project Info & Description Form (above).
• If you are a group from another UC, we don't need the Service Agreement, instead we need a different form: The Inter-Campus MOU signed by the User submitting the job (here is Attachment A listing included UCSB facilities.).

Statement of Work

For each request, please provide a quick PPT/Word/similar doc explaining exactly what you need done ("SOW"), which should include:

• Please name your file something like: "2024-08-21 SiO2 Dep v1.pptx"
  • We use the approx date as your BatchID
  • Revisions will update only the v1/2/3 number, but keep the BatchID the same.
• How many wafers to run and/or number of samples to be provided and size of samples.
• Exact processing steps to perform. Staff will assist filling in any missing details.
  • Please clearly state which steps UCSB Staff will perform, versus steps your staff will perform, if needed.
• Targets and acceptable tolerances for the main steps, eg. "Deposit 500nm of SiO2, acceptable range 450-550nm (±10% tolerance)".
  • Note that tight tolerances (<<10%) will require us to run additional calibrations at your expense, so please choose a tolerance that is required for your devices to work.
  • It is common to not know the tolerance for research devices, so just leave that out and a "best effort" is usually acceptable.

Example SOWs

For some tools the programming/instructions can be fairly complex - below are examples for tools that require more detailed instructions:

• An example PPT for Stepper lithography jobs can be found here: UCSB_Stepper_-_Programming_Worksheet.pptx
• An example PPT for Dicing (die singulation) can be found here: Dicing - Example Dicing Instructions for UC Santa Barbara v2.pptx