Microelectronics
Back to Pre-Basics
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
The pre-basics are simply doing what one, or an organization, is expected to do. In other words, to stop doing “unthoughtful” things.
How Can One Consultant Be A Paradox (pun)?
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This column is about dealing with people like me: professional consultants.
Fire Suppression Systems For Cleanroom Wet Benches
By Jan Eudy
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?
Trust, but Verify
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This column is about judgment, with my not apparently having any; and oh, yes, about the scientific literature being flawed.
Where Does Your Management Get Its Information?
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This is a column about the role of information in risk management. If your managers read, this column applies to YOU...
Point of View: Controlled Environments in Canada...What's New?
By Robert Nightingale
If you do an internet search on cleanrooms in Canada, you might find a few American based vendors who sell into Canada, the rare Canadian vendor in the cleanroom industry, and articles about my former company.
Achieving True EH&S In Controlled Environments
By Matt Kopecky
What most organizations require is corporate-level, stringent process control.
Ergonomically Speaking
By Bill Fleming
Operator interface systems for controlled environments are becoming more user-friendly.
Exhausting Your Options
By Kenneth J. Fisher
Facilities and purchasing managers can achieve positive results for fire safety and occupant health and safety while capturing cost efficiencies through green system material selection.
Fungal, Chemical, and Fire Resistance of PVDF Foams and Polymers
By Ron Partridge
Covering exposed surfaces with PVDF polymer provides a high-purity “inert” surface which does not support the growth of microorganisms and provides the resistance needed to withstand the harsh chemicals used for cleaning and sterilization.
VOC Management -- EPA's Dual System
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
For more than two decades, scientists have attempted to measure and model the relationship between ozone formation and emission of VOCs.
Point of View: Commitment to Workplace Health & Safety
By Scott Lawson, M.S.
When trying to effect a change in the culture of your organization, it is important to identify your core values and honor those values in every aspect of your business and services.
It's a Two-edged Sword
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This column is about management of technological risk. Most value the outcome of successful technical developments. But sometimes their success brings unintended failure.
The “Magnificent Seven”
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This column is not about that popular movie from the 1950s, but about to what those practicing statistical process control (SPC) are referring when they mention that name.
The Expert Witness
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
At some point your business will likely be a party to a legal disagreement in which technology – possibly even cleaning technology – is an issue. At least once in your career, you may need an expert witness.
Cleaning Up on the Internet - a Snapshot
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
Useful sites on a variety of topics including patents, blogs, R&D.
Health Effects of Cleaning Chemicals, Part 2: Why Exposure Regulations are Necessary
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
This month's column concludes a short refresher about industrial hygiene in critical cleaning.
Health Effects of Cleaning Chemicals, Part I: What You Should Know, But Hopefully Not By Experience
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
Thia column and the next are a quick review of industrial hygiene—about how the human body can defend itself against bodily contact with hazardous chemicals and what happens when it doesn't.
Cleaning, Contamination Control, and Lean Manufacturing
By Barbara Kanegsberg, Ed Kanegsberg
There may be advantages to applying the principles of lean manufacturing to cleaning, contamination control, and surface quality and to extending those principles so that they are adopted at companies that precede the final manufacturing facility.
Setting Exposure Limits - Science or Art? Part 2
By John B. Durkee, Ph.D., P.E.
In the January column, we described exposure limits and the scientific methodology long-used to set them. In this column, we’ll cover who does this work, how it should be used, and some ideas gaining credence.
Selecting Seating For Critical Environments
By James Frobose
Seating is a primary design consideration in building or retrofitting a critical environment. Chairs and stools for cleanrooms must be engineered to guard against introducing contamination.
Power: The Unregulated Utility in Pharmaceutical Environment
By Nissan Cohen
Utility power in a pharmaceutical environment is unregulated by the FDA. Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology companies are dependent on the quality of the power provided by the local utility.
A Look at Nitrogen-Stored Parts and Corrosion
By John Franey
When people think of corrosion they typically have visions of rusted-out cars that have seen too many miles of salted pavement in a Midwest environment. The sheet metal of car panels made from steel alloys are 31,750,000 angstroms (0.125”) thick and can be converted to dust in a matter of three years or so.
Microelectronics: A Corosion Study of Welded Stainless Steel
By Gerhard Schiroky, Gary Henrich
During the past 10 years, a number of publications have suggested that 316L stainless steel alloys with extremely low concentrations of manganese (referred to as ultralow-manganese alloys, which contain less than 0.05% Mn) are superior in corrosion resistance as compared to more conventional 316L alloys.
Safeguarding the Semiconductor Fabrication Facility: Part II
By FM Global
<P><b>C</b>hanges on the horizon. FM Global Research has been concerned about the number and size of losses associated with semiconductor fabs and has done extensive research to make future semiconductor fabs safer and less expensive to protect from fire.