Multiuser Labs

Mackgraphe

Multiuser Policy

The Micro and Nano Fabrication Laboratory of the Mackenzie Institute for Research in Graphene and Nanotechnology (MackGraphe) has a significant analytical infrastructure and human resources to work in the areas of nanomaterials characterization and lithography.
In order to expand the user community of these resources, the laboratory has established itself as a Multi-user Laboratory in the National Infrastructure and Research Platform of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and makes its infrastructure and expertise available for use by the Mackenzie community and external users. As defined by the MCTI, Multi-user Laboratories are environments equipped with a team and facilities to support R&D activities that bring together specialized equipment for shared use, offering services to internal and external users, performed by specialist technicians or by the user himself after training. They are managed by a management committee and must have clear access and use rules.

The Laboratory Equipment Use Management and Sharing Plan defines:


• Steering Committee.
• User Commission.
• Regulation of equipment use by the academic and scientific community.
• Submission of projects
• Pricing policy
Users are co-responsible for the equipment and collaborate with the operational cost of the Multi-User Laboratory.
General information about the Multiuser Laboratory, areas of activity, main equipment and services are available on the institute's website (https://www.mackenzie.br/MackGraphe).
This document also includes the Management Plans for multi-user equipment, resulting from FAPESP projects 2012/50259-8 and 2018/25339-4

Article 1 - The purpose of the Management Committee is to regulate the use of the laboratory and its equipment in a multi-user system in accordance with the regulations in force; this Committee is responsible for:
I. Establish the equipment use criteria;
II. solve doubts and problems related to the use and maintenance of equipment;
III. decide on projects of greater interest that may have their use costs subsidized;
IV. establish usage values for different users;
V. managing the Multiuser Laboratory;
VI. administer the laboratory's website;
SAW. supervising the guarantee of equal access and without prioritization to the services of the Multiuser Laboratory;
VIII. control user schedules and their affiliations that must be made through the website, as well as guaranteeing access to services according to the order in which the activity is registered on the website;
IX. guarantee the optimization and maintenance of the Multiuser Laboratory equipment;
X. decide on the equipment maintenance and repair procedure, defining criteria and priorities in the use of revenues;
XI. provide consultancy and technical support to researchers in using the services;
XII. appreciate the annual reports of the activities of the Multiuser Laboratory, prepared by those responsible for the equipment or laboratory;
XIII. promote activities to support teaching and technical training in the areas of activity;
XIV. develop multi-user projects and equipment maintenance, to be submitted to development agencies;
XV. register updated information about the Laboratory in the electronic system of the MCTI, including information about its equipment and persons in charge and about the members of the Management Committee and the Users Commission.
XVI. the Management Committee is made up of three full members and one alternate, with the laboratory coordinator being a natural member of the Management Committee and chairing it; the other members of the Committee must have outstanding performance in joint research projects with the MackGraphe research team;
XVII. the members of the Management Committee will have a mandate of 3 (three) years, with the right to consecutive reappointment; in case of vacancy, the committee shall elect a new member.

Article 2 - The Users Commission acts as a Regulatory Body/Interlocutor of the Multi-user laboratory, and must report to the Management Committee:
I. Issues relating to the proper use and guarantee of access to equipment in a multiuser system;
II. Proposals and forwarding of any projects of greater interest, which may have their costs of use subsidized;
III. Suggestions, complaints and proposals from other users of the laboratory;
Article 3 - The Users Commission is formed by four members and respective substitutes, being a researcher from MackGraphe, a researcher representing Mackenzie internal users, a specialist in Micro- and Nanofabrication of MackGraphe and a representative of institutions external to MackGraphe.
Article 4 - Professors or researchers will be renewed every three years, with the possibility of consecutive reappointment; in case of vacancy, the committee shall appoint a new member. The attributions of the User Commission and the history of its members are available on the institute's website.
Article 5 - The attributions of the Users Commission and the history of its members are available on the Laboratory's website.
Article 6 - The Management Committee will meet with the Users Committee periodically, in half-yearly ordinary sessions, and extraordinarily, when necessary, at the discretion of the President of the Management Committee or at the request of 2/3 of the members of the Users Committee, must keep records of the acts of the sessions, in chronological and numbered order.
§ 1 - The cost spreadsheets and tables of amounts to be collected will be prepared by the Management Committee of the Multiuser Laboratory and will be validated by the management of MackGraphe.
§ 2 - The collection of fees for the use of the equipment(s) will be made through the treasury sector of the maintainer, Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie, as specified by the Management Committee and authorized by the management of MackGraphe.

Article 7 - The use of MackGraphe Multiuser Laboratory equipment is subject to this regulation, also available on the website, as explained below: 
I. All laboratory equipment is listed on the MackGraphe website, in the corresponding menu.


II. In order to promote the wide integration and dissemination of the use of the existing infrastructure in the laboratory and the strengthening of Multiuser activities, professors and researchers, regardless of the Institution to which they are linked, whether in the country or abroad, will have access to the use of equipment of the laboratory, under the precept of co-responsibility, collaborating with operational costs.


III. There will be no differentiation in the order of access or scheduling between users of the academic and scientific community and extension activities. Exceptions are made when predefining a specific schedule of equipment to serve the academic and scientific community or when carrying out extension services with the application of urgency rates.


IV. Any activities that are financed by the private sector or that can be qualified as extension activities do not qualify as a Research Project. The costs of these activities will be appropriated with amounts equivalent to those of extension activities.


V. To access and use the resources available in the laboratory as a user of the “Academic and Scientific Community”, each researcher or professor must be registered with MackGraphe.
SAW. The researcher must carry out a specific registration for each Research Project, indicating the analytical techniques to be used, indicating the project participants who may request analyses, tests and the use of equipment on behalf of the researcher/professor responsible for the Research Project.


VII. The researcher or professor who registered it will be responsible for all requests made in a Research Project, regardless of who requested the analyses, tests and use of equipment.


VIII. When registering the Research Project, the researcher/teacher must demonstrate full awareness and agreement with the usage criteria specified here, either by electronic means or paper signature.


IX. Published works that used the resources or data generated in the Multiuser Laboratory infrastructure to prepare them must mention MackGraphe in the “Acknowledgements” specifying the techniques employed.


X. The samples will remain on file for up to 60 (sixty) days after sending the results; if they are not removed by the user, they will be discarded without prior notice after this period.


XI. Sample counterparts mounted on specific supports will be discarded after analysis.


XII. The eventual direct use (operation) of equipment by researchers, professors or accredited personnel in Research Projects, is subject to a prior evaluation of their qualification, and they must follow the rules, operating manuals and operating procedures defined by the MackGraphe technical team. In this condition, the costs of repairing any damage caused by the operator in disobedience to rules, instructions and operational manuals and internal procedures of the institute, will be borne by the researcher/teacher responsible for the project.


XIII. The values for analysis, tests and use of equipment that are routinely offered to the Academic and Scientific Community are defined and readjusted periodically by the Management Committee.


XIV. Any analyzes or data processing not routinely offered to the Academic and Scientific Community will be accounted for according to values practiced for extension activities.


XV. Different classes of activities are defined with differentiated discounts for users due to their levels of interaction with the Multiuser Laboratory.


XVI. The laboratory and equipment schedules may change in case of technical need for the equipment, as well as in cases of corrective maintenance and other situations. The user will be notified in advance.


XVII. The samples must come prepared and with a description of the preparation method. If the technical team has to prepare the sample, the necessary preparation time will be added to the value.

Article 8 - Proposal submissions will be made exclusively using the form available on the institute's website. Non-standard proposals or missing information will be rejected.
Article 9 - The submission of proposals is carried out following an annual cycle that involves stages of submission, analysis and judgment by the Management Committee and the actual execution of research activities. This calendar will be available on the institute's website.
Article 10 - The user requests time for a specific experiment in an equipment group. The proposal is evaluated by the Proposal Evaluation Committee. If the proposal is approved, the user is granted time to perform a search, compatible with the proposal. The Management Committee can change the requested time, understanding that the sample requires more or less time to meet the request.
Article 11 - The inclusion of master's and doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the proposals is encouraged. However, students cannot submit a proposal without a Senior Researcher as the Principal Investigator. If the proposal is presented by a doctoral student, it must contain a main researcher, preferably the student's advisor as the main researcher.
Article 12 - Before submitting a proposal, users are recommended to consult the facilities, courses, services and technologies available on the website, as well as specific recommendations for sample preparation, protocols and other detailed specifications regarding the proposal submission process of research. Consultation of information with the installation coordinator is also highly recommended.

Article 13 - The research proposal analysis process is divided into different phases:
Phase 1: Internal evaluation of the proposal by the facility coordinator to judge the technical feasibility of the proposed experiment.
Phase 2: Members of the Proposal Evaluation Committee evaluate and rank the proposals according to the following criteria: scientific merit of the proposals and experience of the team, evaluation of previous proposals and scientific publications. The best evaluated proposals are recommended to receive use of the facility.
Phase 3: Internal evaluation by the security committee, the proposal that presents a security risk for execution will have to fill out a specific security form and undergo the evaluation of a security committee that will make recommendations for adaptation for the execution of the experiment.

Article 14 - Given the importance of the scientific results obtained at MackGraphe facilities, users are obliged to cite the facility in any published document. In the same way, the user must forward updates related to his publications to the institute's administration for the purpose of maintaining the database and reporting.
Article 15 - In the mandatory Citation, the user must explicitly declare the infrastructure used in MackGraphe, in any article, thesis or other published material that uses data obtained in the realization of his project. Users must also cooperate in providing this information when requested.
 
MODEL
PT-BR
This research used facilities at the Mackenzie Institute for Research in Graphene and Nanotechnologies (MackGraphe). Facility staff (facility name) are recognized for assistance during experiments (proposal numbers).
EN-US
This research used facilities of the MackGraphe-Center for Research in Graphene and Nanotechnology. The (names of the facilities) staff is acknowledged for the assistance during the experiments (proposal numbers).

The Mackenzie Institute for Research in Graphene and Nanotechnology – MackGraphe, has a laboratory and multi-user equipment with established values for internal and external users, occasional services and companies, according to the following pricing policy:
1. Internal users: professors and academics from the Maintained and Affiliated Companies of IPM – Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie.
From the submission of research projects and approval by the Management Committee, the equipment is reserved and its use is accounted for through a specific digital platform for this purpose.
The number of hours of use determined by the use of laboratories and equipment are transformed into values, which are appropriated to the service centers of the Maintained and Affiliated Companies of the IPM, according to internal regulations.
There is no issue of invoices for internal users, the amounts being appropriated through accounting records.
2. External users of public entities, HEIs and private ICTs: professors and students with ongoing research projects
This group benefits from a reduced price list, subsidized by the other activities carried out at MackGraphe, in order to serve and contribute to the scientific community and society.
The availability of laboratories and equipment follows an annual cycle that involves the steps of submission, analysis and judgment by the Management Committee and the actual execution of research activities, as already described in this document.
Equipment is grouped into 3 distinct categories or groups based on usage and maintenance costs. The equipment groups have their costs/hour defined by the Management Committee. The following table indicates the groups and hourly rates to be charged. This table may be updated as defined by the Management Committee.


Price table:

Group I

BRL 100.00 / hour

Group II

BRL 80.00 / hour

Group III

BRL 50.00 / hour

JEOL JSM-7800F Scanning Electron Microscope

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) - Dimension Icon

Nikon Eclipse LV100ND Optical Microscope

Corrosion by reactive ions (RIE) – Plasma Pro NGP80 – Oxford Instruments (gases used in the process already included in the hourly rate)

Laser Lithography System (Micro Writer ML3)

TE-038/2-MP heating plate

Electron beam induced evaporator (E-beam evaporation)

Laser Lithography System (Micro Writer ML3 PRO)

Deposition by Coating (Spin Coater) – Best Tools

Atomic Layer Deposition - ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) 410L

Plasma surface treatment - ZEPTO VERSION 2 (gases used in the process already included in the hourly rate)

Polarization Microscope - Eclipse LV100ND POL/DS

 

Thermal Evaporation System - UNIVEX 250 LEYBOLD

Polypropylene hood for sample cleaning

    

The values in the table correspond only to the hours of use of the laboratory and equipment, and any expenses incurred with inputs are added to these values.
After use, invoices are issued for the calculated amounts and payments are made via bank slip.

3. External users of private companies
For this group, a price list is used that takes into account all operating costs, equipment maintenance and other management expenses at the MackGraphe Institute.
From the submission of research projects and approval by the Management Committee, the equipment is reserved and its use is accounted for through a specific digital platform for this purpose.
The equipment is grouped into 3 different categories or groups, and the values are defined on demand according to the budget proposed by the Management Committee. Prices may be updated as defined by the Management Committee.
After use, invoices are issued for the calculated amounts and payments are made via bank slip.

• JEOL JSM-7800F Scanning Electron Microscope
• Nikon Eclipse LV100ND Optical Microscope
• Reactive Ion Corrosion (RIE) – Plasma Pro NGP80 – Oxford Instruments - 2012/50259-8
• Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) - Dimension Icon
• Electron beam induced evaporator (E-beam evaporation) - Fapesp 2012/50259-8
• Atomic Layer Deposition - ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) 410L - FAPESP 2012/50259-8
• TE-038/2-MP heating plate
• Coating Deposition (Spin Coater) – Best Tools
• Laser Lithography System (Micro Writer ML3)
• Laser Lithography System (Micro Writer ML3 PRO)
• Polarization microscope - Eclipse LV100ND POL/DS
• Polypropylene hood for cleaning samples
• Plasma surface treatment (ZEPTO VERSION 2)
• Thermal Evaporation System - UNIVEX 250 LEYBOLD
• High Performance Infrared Microscope – FAPESP 2018/25339-4