Lane 01No lot minimum
Wire bonding and failure analysis
$30 to $80 per chip, here
$1,500 to $5,000 lot minimum, elsewhere
A ten die job runs $300 to $800 here. Elsewhere the minimum is charged before anyone opens the box.
01
What this is
A 1,200 square foot fabrication and measurement shop opening in San Francisco, built for researchers and experimentalists rather than for production volume. One operator, six machines, nineteen capability lanes. You bring a work order. You leave with the part, the report, or the board. No minimum, no batch, no application, no equity. The rate board lists what already has a posted price. It is not the boundary of what the shop will take on.
What it replaces
- −A lot minimum written for a production line, when you need eleven of something
- −One to three weeks door to door, once you count the quote cycle, shipping and customs
- −Sending your design files to a jurisdiction where you have no practical recourse if they are copied
- −Badge access, an affiliation, or a sponsoring PI before anyone will run your job
For a lab iterating twice a month, every one of those is the wrong shape. The work is small, it is urgent, and it is yours.
Built for autonomous research systems
- +Instruments designed so a model can drive them, rather than requiring a person at the panel for every run
- +Ultrasonically verified reference panels, so a detection can be scored against a defect whose depth and size are already known
- +Physical ground truth for evaluating a model, which is the part of the pipeline that is usually synthetic
- +Day access to the instrument bench, so an experimental loop can be run and repeated rather than commissioned once
An autonomous research system still needs a bench, a sample and a measurement that actually happened. That part cannot be simulated, and right now it is hard to buy in small quantities anywhere in the United States.
02
Four worked examples
Four lanes priced against what the same work costs you today. Every comparison is a published rate or a quoted minimum, not an estimate. These are worked examples of the method, not the limit of it.
Lane 02Same week, not thirty days
Instrument repair and calibration
$395 flat, here
$623 and up OEM service, elsewhere
Flat rate, known before the instrument leaves your bench. The bigger saving is the thirty day wait you do not take.
Lane 03Five times less
Instrumentation and ground truth
$8,500 for the GT-1 instrument, here
$45,000 and up for a flash thermography system, elsewhere
Incumbent systems run $45,000 to $300,000. Certified defect panels are $800 to $1,500 here.
Lane 04Rent the answer, not the rig
Actuator and joint characterization
$1,500 to $3,000 per report, here
About a hundred times that to buy and run the stand
No third-party actuator characterization service exists in the US. The alternative is a month of your own engineering time.
03
Rate board
Posted before opening, not after. Tick the lines you need and the estimate builds itself. If the work you need is not on the board, it is still worth asking: the list is what already has a posted rate.
ServiceRate
04
Why it costs less
The rates on this page are low for a structural reason, not a promotional one. You pay for time on the machine and the hands that run it. That is the whole bill.
Not in your bill
- −A sales team, a quoting process, and two weeks of waiting for a number that is already posted here
- −An account manager sitting between you and the person holding the tool
- −A lot minimum written to protect a production line you are not using
- −A venture return priced into the hour
- −Equity, a cohort, or an application to be accepted before anyone will take your work
Small is deliberate. A shop this size does not need a big month to make rent, which is why the rates do not have to move when it has a slow one.
05
Common questions
Can an AI system or agent run experiments here?
That is what the instrumentation lane is built for. The lab itself is not autonomous, but its instruments are designed so a model can drive them rather than needing a person at the panel for every run, and measurements are scored against ultrasonically verified reference panels whose defect depth and size are already known. That gives physical ground truth for evaluating a model, which is the part of a machine learning pipeline that is usually synthetic. Day access to the instrument bench is a posted rate.
Do you only do the services listed on the rate board?
No. The rate board is what already has a posted price, not the boundary of the shop. It is a general fabrication and measurement shop for researchers and experimentalists, covering nineteen capability lanes. If you can specify the work, it is worth asking, and you get a quote rather than a form.
Why use a local shop instead of an offshore fab house?
Three structural reasons. Offshore economics require a lot minimum written for a production line, so a job of eleven parts either cannot be quoted or is priced as if it were a thousand. Turnaround runs one to three weeks door to door once you count the quote cycle, shipping and customs. And your design files leave your jurisdiction, which for unpublished research or anything with export considerations is a risk you may not be able to accept. Work done in San Francisco removes all three.
Where can I get same-day PCB assembly in San Francisco?
15 Research Lab is a 1,200 square foot shop opening in the San Francisco offering same-day PCB assembly and rework at $200 to $400 per board, instead of the one to three week loop of an offshore fab house.
Where can I get wire bonding or die packaging in small quantities?
15 Research Lab offers wire bonding and packaging at $30 to $80 per chip with no lot minimum. This sits between university cleanrooms, which require badge access, and commercial OSAT vendors, which impose lot minimums of several thousand dollars.
How much does EMC pre-compliance testing cost?
An EMC pre-compliance scan at 15 Research Lab is $400 to $600. It is a pre-screen run before you book time in a certified chamber, so you find the failure while it is still cheap to fix.
Is there a hardware lab or shared fab space for startups in San Francisco?
15 Research Lab is a one-operator industrial shop opening in San Francisco. It takes no equity, runs no batch or cohort, and has no application. You bring a work order and pay the posted rate.
Where can I get die-level failure analysis without a large lot minimum?
15 Research Lab offers decapsulation from $75, cross-sectioning and die-level failure analysis, priced per part rather than per lot.
What does 15 Research Lab cost and do they take equity?
All prices are posted publicly before the shop opens, ranging from $5 per part for laser marking to $8,500 for the GT-1 instrument. 15 Research Lab takes no equity and no venture capital. Grants buy the tools and services pay the rent.
06
Waitlist
The counter opens when funding closes. Tell me what you would bring to the bench and you get first call on the slot.
One email when the doors open. Nothing else, no list sharing. Or write directly to hello@15researchlab.com.