Nanotechnology Cleanroom - Design on A Dime
By Raymond K. Schneider P.E.
The purpose of the cleanroom is to isolate the product from contaminants that cause product rejection by your quality control. This is done by keeping contaminants out of the facility or, should they enter, by removing them before they do damage. A variety of strategies are employed in large, well-financed facilities, but how does the start-up nanotechnology company, with relatively few dollars and many priorities, begin to address the need for an appropriate facility that will support small production runs of high quality, contaminant-free product?
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Capture-Only Technology
Almost all current filtration technologies are evaluated on the concept of “capture” rate, measuring the amount of particulates captured on the first pass through the filtration device. The higher the efficiency of a filtration device, the greater the number of particles captured. HEPA filters have a capture rate of 99.97 percent. HEPA and other high-end filters use dense filter media to capture particles physically; the denser the filter media, the more particles captured.
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Don't Avoid Difficult Decisions
Your job is to solve problems, not avoid them. That means you're going to have to have tough conversations, make decisions that may be unpopular, and enforce standards and consequences.
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