Cleanroom Technology: Why The Right Idea is Often Found in Other Industries...

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Here too, the solution is a smaller cleanroom with an injection moulding machine docked externally, along with a fan filter unit (FFU) that combines the filter and fan into a single entity. The entire set-up costs but a tenth of the price of the (too) large solution. Even so, users require cleanroom providers with expertise in these processes if they are going to implement this solution.

The air flow, for example, must be directed precisely so that particles are kept away from the product, as complete avoidance is simply not possible. This is why it is so important that users and providers work as a team, using the “divide and conquer” principle to jointly break large processes into smaller parts. Sometimes the cleanroom enclosure need only be as large as a glove box.

Trends for Cleanroom Technologies: Future Opportunities

A procedure such as this represents a significant opportunity for the future for these companies. Already, prototypes of the “450 nanometre silicon wafer with EUV technology” are being produced in cleanrooms in the USA. Full-scale production is expected to commence in 2017 – why shouldn't a European location such as Dresden play a leading role?

The prerequisite for such a development is the aforementioned close integration of process and cleanroom expertise, and while this requires a great deal of conceptual work in the planning and concept stage, cleanroom operators who undertake this effort will be able to remain competitive over the long term.

From the World of Microelectronics: Cutting Costs with FFUs

The fields of semiconductors and microelectronics often lead the way for other industries, and the aforementioned FFU technology was originally developed for the microelectronics sector, where it has been in use for twenty years. Today, an FFU module can generally be obtained for between one and two thousand euros, eliminating the need for large air conditioning and ventilation systems. FFUs have only been used in isolated cases within the pharmaceuticals industry to date, and it is clear that various things such as ceiling grids still need to be adapted, and special seals may be required. ..

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