Clean Mfg
  • Lithium Battery Manufacturing For Automotive Use and the Associated Manufacturing Facility Requirements
    In 2009 the Department of Energy provided over $2 billion in grants and $25 billion in funding for low interest loan guarantees for the proliferation of the manufacture of alternate energy vehicles. The lion’s share of that funding went to automobile manufacturers and suppliers to that industry for the process development and construction of facilities for the manufacture of battery packs for battery operated vehicles. This should not be confused with Hybrid Vehicles, which utilize a combination of battery and internal combustion dry trains.
  • Cleanrooms and Energy
    Cleanrooms are expensive, and energy consumption is a major cost item in operation and maintenance. Some costs may be required, and expecting individual companies to challenge long-accepted design rules is unrealistic. As energy costs increase and companies strive to reduce their carbon footprint, planning and, if needed, redesigning the cleanroom can be a rewarding investment.
  • PTFE Fluid Handling Components Support Semiconductor Enhancements
    When processed correctly, PTFE easily meets increasing fluid handling requirements in the semiconductor industry.

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Mgmt & Safety
  • Cleanroom Operating Procedures
    We are building an ISO Class 7 (formerly Class 10,000) modular cleanroom on our university campus. Our students will wear bouffants, shoecovers, and frocks. Is there a gowning protocol for frocks?We also need procedures for cleaning the modular cleanroom and working in the cleanroom.
  • Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
    A tool to balance cost and schedule while maintaining facilities readiness.
  • Ask the Facilities Guy: How do I produce a Disaster Recovery Plan?
    Question: How do I develop a Disaster Recovery Plan? Answer: Last month’s column laid the groundwork for developing a functional Disaster Recovery Plan. We reviewed key components of a disaster recovery plan and critical planning, discovery, and organizational steps one must take to develop a plan that functions beyond becoming a dust magnet on your bookshelf.

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Regulations/Standards
  • Principles of Cleanroom Validation
    A cleanroom must be validated and certified to a particular class before operation. A cleanroom is a modular environment in which the following environmental factors are kept under control; temperature, airborne particulates, microbes, relative humidity, differential pressure, and air flow.
  • I Don’t Mean to Be Critical
    The FDA guidance on process validation issued in January 2011 has turned the quality and product development worlds upside down. As the industry attempts to translate the principles of the guidance to action a great debate is taking shape surrounding the identification and definition of critical process parameters. This may seem like an innocuous detail in the broader process validation scheme of things but closer inspection will reveal it is at the heart of the process validation maelstrom.
  • Certification: Do It Right the First Time
    How would you like to start up a facility with no major problems or last minute changes in design or implementation? The construction is finished, the walls are up, the doors hung, the ceiling filters are in place, they are moving in the biosafety cabinets and laminar flow benches, checking the exhaust runs, balancing the airflow in the rooms, things are moving along well toward completion. Now that everything is in place, you start to worry about the next phase: Certification.

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Vibration Control
Critical Cleaning
  • Sacrificial Soils in Critical Cleaning
    Sacrificial soils are materials added to a soiled surface to help that surface become less soiled. Commonly used in non-critical applications such as home carpet cleaning (in which colloidal silicates and acrylics are removed when the carpet is vacuumed) or in commercial cleaning of textile garments (fluorocarbon polymeric materials or hydrocarbon polymeric materials as claimed in U.S.P. 5,876,461). But sacrificial soils are not commonly found in critical cleaning processes. This is because more soil is normally the last thing users want to see in a critical cleaning bath.
  • All the News That’s Fit to Print...
    This column reports on three unrelated outcomes about which you need know to manage critical cleaning work, and points out their significance. IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL WE SAY IT’S OVER... IT’S OVER!1 Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been found to be a human carcinogen.
  • On the Quality of Cleanroom Wipers
    In assessing the quality of cleanroom wipers, it is vital to consider the consistency of their cleanliness as an integral property that allows the expected performance measures to be achieved.

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ESD Control
  • Why Static-Control Flooring Is So Important - And How to Find Solutions to Keep You Grounded
    Selecting the right kind of ESD (electrostatic discharge) flooring is always a challenge, and in controlled environments, the stakes are particularly high. While cleanroom environments are known for the exacting standards used to control contaminants, it’s ironic that their anti-static flooring doesn’t always meet industry specifications. This is a critical concern on several levels:
  • Testing ESD Garments
    Is it appropriate to test an ESD garment on an operator?
  • Following ESD Materials Validation Process - Part 2
    Comparing Antistats versus Inherently Conductive Polymer Coated Type I Moisture Barrier Bags for Humidity Dependence & Charge Generation at Low RH This is a continuation, from the September 2010 Issue, of the examination of ESD packaging regarding Electrostatic Decay, Static Shielding, and Charge Generation. (Note: Figures and tables are noted as continuing numbers from Part 1. Full Part 2 version can be referenced at www.cemag.us)

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Ultrasonic & Precision Cleaning
  • CO2 Snow-jet Cleaning in Micro-production
    More than just surface-clean Cleaning parts and components is an extremely quality-critical production stage, especially in micro-technology. CO2 snow-jet cleaning is a dry, environmentally-friendly process which has proved itself over a wide range of applications. Use of the inline-capable snow-jet technology means that reproducibly high cleanliness levels up to the sub-micron range can be achieved.
  • Cleaning Strategies for Electronics Production
    Obtaining requirements-oriented cleanliness in a cost-optimized way. Particles, residual flux material, processing media, and fingerprints—tiny elements—can severely damage electronic products. Thus, requirements-oriented cleanliness is a requisite. This can be achieved by means of an adapted cleaning concept in an effective, reproducible, and environmentally friendly manner.
  • Validation Readiness, Part 2
    Planning and pre-testing are keys to successful validation. Validation of a critical or precision cleaning process is a good idea whether or not there are specific regulatory requirements to do so. A validated cleaning and contamination control process is important in placing you above the competition.

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