Access and Training
The University of Virginia's IFAB Facility resides in the bottom floor of C and E wings in Thornton Hall. The 17,500 ft2 IFAB was created from investments by UVa and SEAS of more than $15M to renovate and expand the original UVa Microfabrication Laboratories (UVML), of $10M in Strategic Investment Funding (SIF) to the Multifunctional Materials Initiative (MMI), $3M in SIF funding to the Center for Advanced Biomanufacturing and $3M in additional ETF equipment funds. The renovation of the IFAB was completed in early 2021 and the facility opened in May 2021. The IFAB is a cost-share facility open to all users across the different Schools at UVa as well as external users.
Joining IFAB and Accessing Sharepoint & Weblinks
Please contact BARRY BABER, Facility Manager, and Arthur Lichtenberger (Facility Director) if you are interested in joining IFAB or would like more information. Many of the below links will not work until you have contacted us and we have added you as an IFAB user.
User Safety Certification and Requirements
- Please see the new and existing REQUIRED SAFETY CERTIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
- Users must recieve a Microfabrication Facility & Safety tour before they can access the Microfabrication equipment-stations, and receive a BioManufacturing Facility & Safety tour before accessing BioManufacturing equipment-stations.
IFAB Fees
NEW FEE SYSTEM: IFAB plans to change to a new instrument scheduling and fee structure (driven by the online FOM facility management software) by July 2024. See our FEES & RATES WEBPAGE WEBPAGE for more information.
The Innovations in Fabrication (IFAB) is a cost-center facility at the University of Virginia in the School of Engineering that is open to internal (UVA) and external users to perform their own research and development activities.
→ Rates are established by the managing unit and approved by the University Office of the Comptroller. External users are charged higher rates than internal users.
→ IFAB currently operates with two tiers of Monthly Entrance Fees, hourly rates on select equipment (BioManufacturing equipment; Microfabrication: Ebeam Raith and Laser Microwriter direct-write), equipment training fees, and special materials fees (eg, precious metals, liquid nitrogen, specialty wafers).
- IFAB currently offers a single Full Facility Entrance Fee that allows users access to both Microfabrication and BioManufacturing.
- IFAB also offers a BioManufacturing ONLY Entrance-Fee.
- All Microfabrication users must enter a Funding Account number (or "No Use") in the IFAB Monthly Entrance Fee system every month (external users should enter their name and institution).
FY24_FULL FACILITY (MICROFAB+BIOM) ENTRANCE FEES
(for staff FY23 Entrance Fees)
- Users who are only BioManufacturing users do not need to log their Monthly Entrance Tier use (we will determine if you are a BioManufacturing user through the instrument reservation calendars).
For staff only: STAFF MATERIALS-OTHER FEE SHEET & STAFF TRAINING FEE SHEET
Reserving Equipment
Daily Master Sign-Up Calendar
To enter the IFAB cleanroom, one must sign into the DAILY MASTER SIGN-UP CALENDAR each day. Do NOT Sign Into to the Daily Master calendar for future days. There are also (see the section below) individual Sign-Up calendars for major equipment and processing stations. Only IFAB users have access to Sign-Up calendars through the IFAB Microsoft Team/SharePoint membership. Additionally, only users approved to use a given piece of equipment should Sign-Up to use that equipment. There are computers inside the cleanroom dedicated for Daily Master & Equipment-Station Sign-Up
Equipment Fees and Sign-Up Calendars
All users must use the IFAB equipment/station Reservation Calendar system. Please access these systems through the below two links.
MICROFABRICATION EQUIPMENT FEES, FEE CAPS AND SIGN-UP RESERVATION CALENDARS
BIOMANUFACUING EQUIPMENT FEES, FEE CAPS AND SIGN-UP RESERVATION CALENDARS