Greetings,

 

As part of our legal requirement to regularly review and refresh our recharge rates, Birck is planning to implement refreshed recharge rates on June 1st, pending approval from the Purdue University Income Producing Committee.

 

It has been almost 3 years since Birck last updated our rates, which were themselves based on cost data from 4-5 years ago. As we all know, inflation has been significant since the pandemic, and the new rates in many cases have increased vs. current rates. Looking across all services (weighted by spending), overall faculty can expect approximately a 10% increase in spending vs. current rates. Much of the overall increased cost is driven by price increases in bulk gasses, which have increased >50% since 2018, and now make up ~25% of BNC’s $1.6M recharge S&E spending. That added cost is reflected in the Birck Lab Fee, which for internal users is increasing from the current $10/day to $14/day.

 

Attached is a listing of the new rates, as well as a comparison of current rates and new rates. An in-depth presentation on rate background, reasons for changes, and a comparison with peer institutions is available here . Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

 

A new change to our charging model is the addition of a Monthly Usage Fee, Cleanroom Storage charge (assessed to users who maintain active cleanroom access) and a Monthly Usage Fee, Additional Cleanroom Bin charge (assessed to users or groups who maintain multiple bins, beyond 1 bin/user and 1 group bin/group). More background for these can be seen later in this email, below my signature.

 

Other changes to be aware of:

  1. Added services for new tools:
    1. Metrology, Zeiss Helium Ion Microscope: Applies to the new Zeiss ORION NanoFab Helium Ion Microscope/Helium FIB
    2. Metrology, PQSEI: Applies to the Horiba XploRA Confocal Raman Microscope (with heated stage) in PHYS B76A.
  2. Scifres Equipment Cap changes:
    1. The Scifres Equipment Service Cap has been changed from “by date of purchase” to “by billing date” for reasons related to implementation.
    2. The Scifres cap now begins at $13,000 per user per account per FY and covers up to $12,000 in costs per use per FY on qualifying services.
  3. Renamed Roll-to-Roll services:
    1. Roll-to-Roll, General was renamed to Roll-to-Roll, Prototyping, and currently applies to the following tools:
      1. LasX
      2. MPS TF-100 Screen Printer
      3. Nordson Quantum Q-6800 Fluid Dispensing System
    2. Roll-to-Roll, Maxwell was renamed to Roll-to-Roll, Process Demonstration and currently applies to the following tools:
      1. Maxwell
      2. Mirwec
      3. PPSI Inkjet
  4. 3D3C changes:
    1. Removed Daily Entry Surcharge, 3D3C Lab - BRK 2087 rate. Entry to BRK 2087 will only incur the Daily Entry Surcharge, Biological Labs - BSL1 and BSL2 rate.
    2. Combined the Staff Time, Lab Manager, 3D3C rate into the Staff Time, Engineering rate.

 

Thanks,

Justin

 

Justin C. Wirth, PhD

Research Engineer – EBL Processes & Nanofab Process Consultation

Birck Nanotechnology Center | Room 2287A
765.494.8203 | jcwirth@purdue.edu

 

 

Monthly Usage Fee, Cleanroom Storage

Currently, BNC staff are facing a bin crisis: there are ~100 active cleanroom users per year, but ~350 bins occupied in the cleanroom. It can be very difficult to know if users are actively using their bin vs. have finished their work at BNC and abandoned the items vs. are not actively using the cleanroom but intend to do so at a later time (e.g. after finishing extensive measurement or simulation work) vs. if the user is no longer at BNC but the bin is still being used by other groupmates. We don’t want to get rid of anyone’s items unless we know the items are not needed, but it has gotten to the point that it is time prohibitive to try to reach out to every single bin owner individually (possibly multiple times, if no response is received), then their faculty member, and then try to coordinate what to do with the items.

 

To solve this, both now and in a sustainable way going forward, the Monthly Usage Fee, Cleanroom Storage will be assessed as a small monthly fee for any user who actively maintains cleanroom access: $2/month for Internal users, $6/month for External Non-Profit/Indiana Small Business Users, and $7/month for External For-Profit users. The cost is set to be approximately one day of cleanroom access per year, with the cost further subsidized (50%) for internal users in the initial rollout of the fee.

 

The purpose of the charge is not to generate significant income, but rather to:

  1. cover the staff time and materials cost that goes towards cleanroom storage management: assigning, ordering, and maintaining a pre-gowning cubby for hair net and shoe cover, a gowning room cubby for safety glasses, a gowning room hanger for cleanroom garments, a nametag for the cleanroom gown, and a bin inside the cleanroom.
  2. automatically alert BNC staff to users that have left. Once a user is no longer at Purdue or actively supporting by a PI, the monthly charge will fail, and staff can then send a targeted email to the faculty member on how to proceed with the bin contents. The fee will be assessed to the PI themselves until the bin is either transferred to another member in the group as an additional bin, or cleaned out and made available to another user.

 

The fee will be automatically assessed starting June 30th to any users with cleanroom storage (a pre-gowning cubby, gowning room cubby, gowning room hanger, and/or cleanroom bin) monthly until a user no longer requires cleanroom access and these spaces/items are vacated. PIs will also be assessed the fee if they maintain a group bin.

 

For users or PIs requiring more than one bin, these are offered at an increased rate to cover the cost of maintaining and managing labware in cleanroom bins, especially when users depart and labmates need to be contacted to dispose of or re-use remaining labware. The Monthly Usage Fee, Additional Cleanroom Bin charge has been set at a level close to the cost of one day of cleanroom access per month, at $40/month for Internal users, $77/month for External Non-Profit/Indiana Small Business Users, and $88/month for External For-Profit users. Similarly, this will be automatically assessed starting June 30th for any users or PIs with more than one bin.

 

Please contact Justin Wirth with any questions about the charges themselves, and Bill Rowe with any desired changes to occupied bins/cleanroom space.