[labnetwork] Mahmood/Reger paper is not reliable

[Weaver, John R]

This forum should not be a place for personal attacks or the putting forth of biased inputs. As supported by a number of people, the Mahmood-Reger paper did a very thorough job of reviewing the costs presented by various facilities for two hypothetical processes. It was put together accurately, and the discrepancy was in the boundary conditions spelled out in the paper. The fact that it was not reviewed by one party - she was contacted but, in her words, "didn't have time to review it" - does not make the paper inaccurate. 

In this forum we should stick to the topic rather than turning things into an argument that is not even on topic. The last paragraph in this post is the key - there are many charging schemes used by various facilities. Each individual should look at their goals and what is acceptable to their customers. One can  create a very involved system that applies costs to cost-causers in great detail or one can go with a very simple approach such as charging by the time one is in the cleanroom. Most facilities charge by something that is between these two extremes.

John R. Weaver
Facility Manager
Birck Nanotechnology Center
Purdue University
(765) 494-5494
jrweaver at purdue.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Katalin Voros
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 1:30 PM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: [labnetwork] Mahmood/Reger paper is not reliable

The Aamer Mahmood and Ron Reger, paper "Microfabrication Process Cost Calculator," at the 2010 UGIM presented incorrect data; several of us repudiated it at the conference and asked Mahmood not to include our lab's name in further publications.

Dennis Grimard and Lisa Jones from Michigan presented "FY11 Financial and Operational Survey of Major University Nanofabrication Facilities", at UGIM 2012. Contact dgrimard at umich.edu.
Dennis did a thorough work by contacting each participant, double checking accuracy and asking about discrepancies.

However, as others stated before me, there are as many charging schemes as there are labs. Each one creates a fee structure best (most acceptable) for the local environment. One suggestion, from experience, do not parse it in overly much detail. It will be a nightmare to administer it and exposes you for nitty-gritty arguments.

Sincerely
                       Katalin

--------------------------------------------
KATALIN VOROS
R&D Engineering Manager
Engineering Research Support Organization Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences 
University of California at Berkeley      
545D Cory Hall #1770      
Berkeley, CA 94720-1770  
phone: (510) 642-2911    
voros at eecs.berkeley.edu             
http://microlab.berkeley.edu         
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