Microelectronics
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
  • Back to Pre-Basics
    Every magazine has what’s called an editorial calendar, spelling out what the magazine will cover within a forecast period of time. For 2010, this magazine has chosen a “back to basics” theme. I’ll try to contribute to that effort. This column is such, but it’s about what I think are the “pre-basics” of operating with cleaning (or any) technologies.
  • How Can One Consultant Be A Paradox (pun)?
    This column is about dealing with people like me: professional consultants. A CHANGE OF TIMES Consultants used to be hired for their specific expertise. Today, however, they’re usually hired to achieve cost savings because their use is, ideally, under total enterprise control; their employment is defined by contract, and they don’t receive benefits. Achievement of that control is critical. Both consultant and enterprise must understand each other’s needs and wants. This column is about doing that.
  • Fire Suppression Systems For Cleanroom Wet Benches
    We are remodeling our semiconductor cleanrooms and require a fire suppression system for our wet benches inside the cleanroom. What should I specify in issuing the request for quote? How do I qualify this system once installed?

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Regulations/Standards
  • More Transparency...But For Whom?
    A NEED FOR SECRECY In my 25-year career with a major global chemical company I learned a few things. One such was that at the core of our offerings were only two values for customers; the chemical identity of our products, and the service supporting them. I mean “chemical identity” in the general sense not merely the names of a commodity product such as acetic acid, but formulations, ingredients and their specification, catalysts and initiators involved in synthesis, process steps and operating conditions of them, and names of additives.
  • Point of View: Cal/OSHA Standards Board: 5 ppm PEL for n-propyl bromide
    To achieve reasonable surface quality in critical cleaning applications, manufacturers need effective cleaning options, including aggressive solvents. One “sharp scalpel,” n-propyl bromide (nPB), may be more challenging for industry to use, at least in California if not throughout the nation. The reason: on December 17, 2009, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board set a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of 5 ppm for nPB, with a skin notation.
  • Testing Consumable Products For Cleanrooms
    It is recommended that when comparing cleanroom consumable products manufactured by several vendors that all products be tested at the same lab, with the same test method, and by the same technician. What test methods are recommended for cleanroom consumable products?

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Vibration Control
Critical Cleaning
  • Who Is To Blame For Critical Cleaning?
    This is one of those columns you have to read (and write) every couple of years or so. It’s like taking a physical—necessary to the long-term health of the business, but otherwise a boring waste of time. It’s not going to be quite as tedious as answering “Why am I here?” or “Why is there air?” but it’s in that realm.
  • Materials Compatibility Basics
    You Know Materials Compatibility Problems When You See Them Or do you? Materials compatibility problems can be manifested in an acute manner such as a gross weight change or product deformation; the product may even dissolve. Even more insidious, a subtle surface change can compromise product performance. Those involved in optics manufacture are probably all too aware of the phenomenon. But it gets better (actually, worse); product failure may occur weeks, months, or even years down the road.
  • Back To Basics - How Cleaning Really Works, Part II
    In the last C4 column, I started my contribution to compliance with Controlled Environment’s 2010 editorial calendar by communicating some of the basics behind cleaning science. I used two simple “laws” of cleaning, and showed how they described how cleaning works—that it is really soil management. Cleaning is essentially moving soil from where it is not wanted to where it can be accepted. In this column I will relate the two other “laws” and summarize all four.

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ESD Control
Ultrasonic & Precision Cleaning
  • 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.
  • Science Is Foiled Again
    This column is about understanding how and why sonic transducers perform as they do in cleaning operations. That understanding is based on an analysis of how the power applied from transducers is distributed throughout the tank. The involved science is sophisticated but the understanding may come mainly from a simple and old method.
  • Airborne Molecular Contamination, Part 1: Silent Poison
    Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) can be a “silent poisoner” of your process and product. AMC is any unwanted organic or inorganic molecule that is carried by the air to the surface of the product. The world of wafer fabrication categorizes AMC as acids, bases, condensables, and dopants.1 In a more global sense, AMC is productively thought of as any molecule carried by the air that masks or reacts with the surface.

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