This page summarizes the fee ranges and policies charged to internal and external users. All current and future rates can be found at https://nemo.nano.upenn.edu/fee_schedule and supersede any stated rates on this page. Internal users are students, post-docs, staff, faculty or anyone employed by the University of Pennsylvania — all others are external users. External users are defined as academic, government or industry/corporate:
- External Academic users belong to any credited post-secondary academic degree-offering institution not managed by the University of Pennsylvania.
- Government users belong to the public sector which are government ran entities such as a Department of Energy (DOE) research lab or similar.
- Industry/Corporate users belong to private sector organizations that include small companies (less than 50 full-time employees) or large companies (50 or more full-time employees). Startup employees are not considered government users even if the startup’s partial or whole funding source may be a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant or any grant issued by any local, state/provincial, federal or foreign government entity.
New Policy Terms effective July 1, 2025:
- Peak hours are defined as Monday through Friday, 9 am to 7 pm.
- Off-peak hours are defined as Monday through Friday, 7 pm to 9 am, and all-day Saturday and Sunday.
- During peak hours, a $5 minimum charge will apply to tools and lab areas, where applicable, across all three cores. Exceptions include spinners (SPN-XX), metrology (MET-XX), and wet bench sonicators. See https://nemo.nano.upenn.edu/fee_schedule
- Off-Peak Advantages
- A nominal 15% discounted rate is in effect for tool and lab area access.
- Waiver of the $5 minimum charge per tool or lab area login.
Quattrone Nanofabrication Facility
Effective July 1, 2025:
Internal/External Academic Users | ||
Government Users | Industry/Corporate Users | |
Cleanroom / Packaging Lab / |
||
Door Charge | $34/hr to $39/hr | $66/hr to $77/hr |
Equipment Charges | Range $0/hr to $165/hr | Range $0/hr to $495/hr |
Cap – Tool and Lab Use | $7500/semester/user | Not available |
Staff Rates | $55/hr | $150/hr |
The internal and external academic rate policy caps usage (both door/lab and tool charges) in the cleanroom/soft lithography together to $7500 per semester (July-Dec and Jan-Jun) per user per PI. After this cap has been reached, a user can incur an additional $30k in charges without incurring any cost to their PI. Afterward, the regular academic rate is applied for additional charges that exceed the $37,500 threshold and will be invoiced accordingly. This cap resets every semester. There is no cap structure for industry/corporate users.
Individual Tool fees are available at: https://nemo.nano.upenn.edu/fee_schedule/
Nanoscale Characterization Facility
Effective July 1, 2025:
Internal/External Academic Users | ||
Government Users | Industry/Corporate Users | |
Equipment Charges | $10/hr to $77/hr | $26/hr to $462/hr |
Staff Rates | $55 | $150 |
Individual Tool fees are available at: https://nemo.nano.upenn.edu/fee_schedule/
Scanning Probe Facility
Effective July 1, 2025:
Internal/External Academic Users | ||
Government Users | Industry/Corporate Users | |
Equipment Charges | $29/hr to $39/hr | $510/hr to $600/hr |
Staff Rates | $55 | $150 |
Individual Tool fees are available at: https://nemo.nano.upenn.edu/fee_schedule/