Materials Foundry FAQs
How do I purchase products from the Materials Foundry?
You may purchase online through the Materials Foundry website using a credit card for payment. Alternatively, you may submit a purchase order through our sales department. The online purchasing process will provide the purchase order route as an option for you to select and explain how to submit a purchase order.
What are commercial and research products?
In the Materials Foundry online catalog, you will notice that we offer two groups of products: commercial and research products.
Research products are experimental products designated by catalog numbers only. They are offered strictly for Research and Development purposes and are not intended for commercial manufacturing.
Commercial products carry a Brewer Science trademark on their label. They include, for example, Brewer Science® ARC® spin-on anti-reflective coatings, WaferBOND® temporary wafer bonding materials, and ProTEK® etch protection products. They have been designed for specific applications and can be used commercially for those purposes. For convenient purchasing, we offer selected commercial products through the Materials Foundry website in small package sizes.
Does the catalog price include shipping & handling?
No. Your total cost for a catalog item will include the catalog price plus any shipping and handling costs and applicable taxes. Shipping costs can be estimated as part of the online purchasing process.
Can I return a product?
No. Products cannot be returned. Unwanted or expired products should be disposed of by the approved methods described in the Research Product Information Sheet and MSDS.
Do Material Foundry products have lead times for shipping?
We keep a small inventory of catalog items in stock. If a product is in stock, it will normally be shipped within 2-3 days following purchase. However, if it is not in stock, we require a 2-week lead time before shipment. If a product is not in stock or a longer lead time is required, we will let you know by e-mail.
Do Materials Foundry research products carry a warranty for use or performance?
We do not warranty any Materials Foundry products for use or performance because the application and conditions of use will differ from customer to customer. The information provided in the Research Product Information Sheet is not intended to constitute a set of product specifications. It is only considered representative of the performance and properties that a customer should obtain if the product is applied and tested in the same manner as we used to generate the information.
Does the Materials Foundry offer application support for its products?
Yes. You may request application support by registering on the website and selecting to have a dialogue online with a Brewer Science materials specialist. After registering, you may also call and ask to speak with a materials specialist.
Does the Materials Foundry offer custom formulations? Custom product development?
Yes. We offer custom formulations of research products within the catalog. Naturally there is an additional charge for custom products. We also offer custom product development with the financial support of our customers. Custom development programs are performed under a Sponsored Development Agreement. (Our general terms for a sponsored development agreement can be found here). Exclusive use of custom product technologies by the sponsor can be arranged.
Can customers prepare their own diluted or custom formulations from our research products?
We normally do not recommend that customers attempt to dilute our products because there is a high likelihood of contaminating the products with particulate matter or forming an unstable solution that may precipitate over time. If you decide to dilute one of our products, you should use reagent-grade solvents of the same composition as provided in the Research Product Information Sheet. If this information indicates that a mixture of solvents is present in the product, you should use the same solvents in the same proportions as provided in the Research Product Information Sheet. We highly recommend that you contact one of our materials specialists before you attempt to dilute any of our products. (See FAQ 7 about requesting to have a dialogue with a materials specialist.)
We strongly caution against adding any other chemical components into our products because the result may be an incompatible chemical mixture that precipitates or, worse yet, reacts to create a safety hazard.
How are research products in the Materials Foundry catalog filtered and purified for customer usage?
Most research products are filtered to 0.2-µm nominal level. Some products with exceptionally high viscosities and solids levels are filtered to 1.0-µm or larger nominal levels. Research products (offered by catalog product number only) are not prepared in electronics grade with respect to metal ion levels, though many have naturally low ion concentrations because of how the raw materials are sourced or synthesized in-house. We guarantee that the compositions of research products are correct and correspond to their assigned product numbers in the online catalog.
If you are seeking a higher level of filtration for your application other than provided with the as-obtained product, it is often possible to perform point-of-use filtration with a disk-type or small cartridge-type filter capsule. We generally recommend endpoint filter capsules having Teflon® construction for filtering our products at the point of use.
What is the shelf life of Materials Foundry products?
The official shelf life of a research product after you receive it is 90 days under the storage conditions recommended in the Research Product Information Sheet. However, most research products can be used reliably well beyond this period and have a useful life of six (6) months. If you do not observe a color change or phase change in the product solution, it is usually safe to assume that the product can continue to be used reliably past the 90-day period.
The typical shelf life of commercial products (labeled as ProTEK®, WaferBOND®, ARC®, etc.) is 3-6 months at room temperature.
How should I store and dispose of products?
The Research Product Information Sheet provides guidelines for how to store the product. The corresponding MSDS gives the proper procedures for safely disposing of any unused product.
Teflon® is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.