Effective September 1, 2008.

The fee rate schedule for the 2008/2009 academic/fiscal year is summarized in the table below and described in more detail in the explanations following:

The Labmember Category of your project will define which fee rate schedule is applied. The different Labmember Categories are explained <here>.

Equipment Use charges are used to recover the operating costs associated with the lab (general supplies, gases, spare parts, etc.) For each Labmember Category, this rate is generally the same for all equipment that is tracked. Equipment charges are tracked when a Labmember enables a specific piece of equipment on CORAL for use. There is no charge for time physically spent in the lab, only for use of equipment that is enabled on CORAL (thus no charge incurred, for example, for a Labmember who is inspecting wafers under a microscope, which is equipment that is not tracked).

The "notched cap" system is the method by which equipment charges are calculated. There are three levels of fees, depending on the total equipment use time in a calendar month (starting from the first). Equipment usage during below the Cap (total equipment use time below the Cap of 25 hours) is charged at the Base Rate. Equipment usage during Capped Time (above the Cap of 25 hours, but below the Notched Cap of 160 hours) is charged at a flat Capped Fee. Equipment usage above the Notched Cap is charged at 10% of the Base Rate.

The rationale for the notched cap is that it allows researchers to have a large window of time in which they can work without having to keep a close eye on the clock (as we all know, research often takes a lot longer and many more different turns than we can easily predict...) This also allows research project managers to more accurately budget for lab fees, since they become more predictable (particularly important for grant proposals!) The "upper cap" discourages wasteful use of equipment and encourages safety by imposing costs on excess hours worked in the lab.

The Capped Fee and Notched Cap rates indicated here are based on the flat Base Rate described above. A small subset of equipment (certain manual stations and operations) is charged at 70% of this Base Rate, so the actual charge may be less.

Multiple labmembers on the same project are each subject to his/her own caps. One labmember working on more multiple projects is subject to caps for each project. In summary: one pair of caps per person, per project, per calendar month.

Staff Support charges are incurred for lab activities, such as training and in providing process support. Training fees are charged as described in the Training Information document; although the training fee is indicated as an hourly rate, the number of hours charged to any labmember is the same for a given piece of equipment. For a list of the equipment and training time charged, check the Training Information document. Limited support for fabrication services is offered by the SNF staff; these services are charged on the basis of time used, at the Staff Recharge rates indicated above. Outside the lab, Process Staff and Technical Liaisons are available to answer questions and offer advice without charge. There is also no charge for the Orientation and Safety Laboratory Class. However, projects requiring major technical assistance outside the Lab might be subject to Process Staff Support charges. Alternatively, Labmembers and Remote Users might consider structuring such projects as joint research efforts with the Staff Member.

Overhead: Stanford University charges overhead for all sponsored projects and related activities. The current rate (for 2008/9) is 60%. Overhead rates are applied to all fees generated at SNF (including charges incurred from staff support and the stockroom, as well as equipment use.) Stanford-affiliated labmembers already pay overhead, as this is built into all research contracts administered through the University. "Other Academic" Labmembers, already pay overhead at their own home institutions and are therefore subject to a lower, courtesy University overhead of 8%. Because academic overhead may vary depending on the funding source, the direct cost rates are also indicated above. Industry/Government affiliated labmembers are funded from agencies outside Stanford and are therefore subject to the full overhead. The funds generated from overhead fund university infrastructure; for SNF, this includes general building maintenance (such as custodial services), facilities (such as chemical disposal, waste treatment, environmental control), utilities (such as electrical, chilled water), and networking/communications. (Overhead on invoices from Stanford will appear as "Facilities and Administration Charges.")