CleanRooms articles from April 2008

CleanRooms archives from April 2008

Thanks for your support!(from the editor)
April 1, 2008... If anyone had doubts about the strength and vitality of the contamination control industry, they should surely have been put to rest by the tremendous turnout and energy generated by the CleanRooms Europe Conference & Exhibition held last month...

Semiconductor mask double take.(news)
April 1, 2008... Two recent announcements regarding semiconductor photomasks are good news for the industry, with one being a contamination-related breakthrough. The first of the two concerns defect levels on mask blanks for extreme ultraviolet (EUV)...

Live cells detect food-borne pathogens and toxins.(news)
April 1, 2008... Purdue University researchers have reported a new technology for potential biosafety and food safety applications that can simultaneously screen thousands of samples of food or water for several dangerous food-borne pathogens within a couple of...

Hovione buys drug manufacturing facility in China.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... Hovione has purchased 75 percent of Hisyn Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The Zhejiang provincial authorities have already issued the necessary business license and the joint venture is now operational. The acquisition provides Hovione with significant...

Hill-Rom selects NanoHorizons for antimicrobial protection.(PARTICLES)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Hill-Rom and NanoHorizons, Inc. have reached an agreement to incorporate NanoHorizon's antimicrobial technology into Hill-Rom's patient support surfaces. This technology will be branded as nanoAg+[TM] with SmartSilver[TM]. Silver is a powerful,...

Entegris acquires stake in IMI.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... Entegris, Inc. signed an agreement to purchase a 14 percent equity stake of privately held Integrated Materials, Inc. for $8 million. Under the agreement, Entegris intends to purchase the remaining equity of IMI upon completion of certain...

Cardinal Health to acquire ChloraPrep[R] manufacturer.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... Cardinal Health has agreed to acquire the assets of privately held Enturia Inc. for $490 million. The cash transaction includes Enturia's line of infection prevention products sold under the ChloraPrep[R] brand name. The products are used...

SEMI publishes eight new technical standards.(news)
April 1, 2008... SEMI has published eight new technical standards applicable to the semiconductor, fl at-panel display, and MEMS manufacturing industries. The new standards, developed by technical experts from equipment and materials suppliers, device...

FDA names permanent director for Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has appointed Janet Woodcock, M.D., as director of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. CDER is charged with assuring that safe and effective drugs are available to Americans. While...

Patent awarded for miniature chemical detection device.(PARTICLES)(United States. Patent and Trademark Office)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded George Radziszewski a patent for his ChemiD Mini Lab, a miniature device that will identify chemical compounds on demand. The ChemiD Mini Lab is designed to meet the critical need for an...

CVD building acquisition to expand First Nano lab.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... CVD Equipment Corp. completed the acquisition of a new 13,000-square foot building to facilitate the scale-up and commercialization of new products for the nanotechnology, solar, energy, and semiconductor fields. The company will be relocating...

Hartz Mountain Corp. recalls Vitamin product.(PARTICLES)
April 1, 2008... The Hartz Mountain Corp. is voluntarily recalling a second specific lot of Hartz Vitamin Care for Cats due to concerns that bottles may have been potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Hartz is co-operating with the FDA in this voluntary...

Better tools for bioprocessing: advanced filtration technologies are supplanting many traditional separation and purification techniques to meet demand for efficient, cost-effective, and high-yield industrial bioprocesses.(special report)
April 1, 2008... Although dairy products, biopharmaceuticals, and alternative fuels might be disparate sectors of business, they have one commonality: the need to harvest, manipulate, and transform biological organisms into viable products for market. ...

Certification of Class II biological safety cabinets: with proper field certification and commissioning practices, BSCs will keep hazardous materials away from personnel and ensure environmental cleanliness.(biosafety cabinet certification)
April 1, 2008... Class II biological safety cabinets (BSCs) are vital pieces of laboratory equipment in many life science applications requiring contamination control. In addition to providing a workstation with aseptic conditions for product protection, a BSC...

Getting the bugs out: an effective environment monitoring program begins with interpreting applicable international standards.(microbial monitoring)
April 1, 2008... Environmental monitoring (E/M) is a surveillance system for microbiological control of cleanrooms and other controlled environments. The process provides monitoring, testing, and feedback regarding the microbiological quality levels in aseptic...

Gloves.(product spotlight)
April 1, 2008... Gloves are an essential component of cleanroom apparel. They not only protect personnel from hazardous materials but also can be the first line of defense in preventing the contamination of clean environments. Butyl gloves ChemTek[R]...

Benchtop chilling incubator.(new products)(Torrey Pines Scientific, Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Torrey Pines Scientific announces the EchoTherm[TM] Model IN30 benchtop chilling incubator that controls from 4[degrees] to 70[degrees]C even at or near room temperature. The IN30 is Peltier-based for heating and chilling, has no compressors or...

ESD event detector.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Trek, Inc. introduces the Model 900 ESD event detector. This detector is a diagnostic tool for manufacturing environments that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge, including electronic, semiconductor, and medical device manufacturing and...

Temperature monitoring software.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Accsense's new sub-sampling software feature allows users to designate separate time intervals for alarm-checking and data logging. For example, a pharmacy can now save data four times a day while checking for an alarm condition every five...

Position sensor.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Airpot Corp. announces the addition of a position sensing option to its line of Airpel non-stiction air cylinder actuators. The company offers non-contact electronic switching sensors from Sick, Inc. using state-of-the-art GMR technology, which...

Ductless fume hoods.(new products)(Air Science USA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Air Science USA has introduced a new range of ductless fume hoods with sophisticated airflow, filter alarms, and advanced safety features. These units are available in sizes from 2 to 8 ft. The fume hoods have been designed to provide maximum...

Liquid verification system.(new products)(Artel)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... ARTEL has advanced the automation of its MVS[R] multi-channel verification system for streamlined liquid delivery performance verification of automated liquid handlers. The MVS is a rapid, easy-to-use system that provides NIST-traceable,...

Filling and sealing machines.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Bosch Packaging Technology introduces several new products. The new GKF HiProTect, an integrated containment capsule filling system for processing potent substances, offers a fully integrated 100 percent check weighing system and features...

Ultra-pure water systems.(new products)
April 1, 2008... With the new Septron line, the Christ Water Technology Group makes it possible to produce ultra-pure water in various qualities and quantities. The models 10-20 and 25-60 comply with the current standards laid out by ISO, CAP, and ASTM. The...

Dry ice cleaning systems.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Cold Jet, LLC introduces the new Aero series of dry ice blast cleaning systems. The systems provide advanced economical dry ice cleaning in an environmentally friendly format for a variety of industries. The systems use non-abrasive media that...

Tilt switch control unit.(new products)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The LTC series tilt switch control units feature an adjustable time delay and a logic selector switch. There are two contacts for connection to the probe (three contacts for intrinsically safe probes); three for the input power; and two sets of...

Sealing films.(new products)(Excel Scientific, Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The popular SealPlate[R] MiniStrips[TM] sealing films, for one or two eight-well rows on strip-well or standard 96-well microplates, now come in a new multi-strip sheet format. Each sheet contains four MiniStrips that can be peeled off...

Clear PVC pipe.(new products)
April 1, 2008... GF Piping Systems has introduced a new line of clear schedule 40 PVC pipe for fluid applications requiring visual monitoring. The excellent clarity of the new clear PVC makes it suitable for confirming flow direction in a pipe and fluid color...

Mold prevention system.(new products)
April 1, 2008... GSK Innovations introduces the Endurance Bio-Barrier[TM] two-step mold prevention system consisting of a cleaner/prep agent and the Bio-Door Technology barrier and odor control application. It contains safe active ingredients that are below...

Handheld laser particle counter.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Hal Technology introduces the world's first hybrid handheld particle counter, HPC600. The HPC600 measures six different particle size distributions simultaneously with a sensitivity of 0.3 [micro]m and combines functionalities of both handheld...

SIMS flange system.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Hiden Analytical announces the introduction of a complete, compact SIMS facility conveniently mounted on a single UHV conflat-type flange. The new system, aptly named SIMS-on-a-Flange, allows users to quickly install a complete SIMS resource on...

Contact plates.(new products)(International PBI S.p.a.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... International PBI introduces ready-to-use contact plates for the control of microbiological contamination. The agar contact plates are delivered with a certificate of fertility of the medium (made after irradiation) and certificate of sterility...

Syringe pump.(new products)
April 1, 2008... KD Scientific's new Model KDS 410 high-pressure syringe pump is capable of pushing 2, 4, 6, or 10 syringes simultaneously into reaction vessels. The pump works with syringes from 10 [micro]l up to 140 ml to provide accurate flow delivery from 1...

Benchtop protector.(new products)
April 1, 2008... The new Kimtech Science benchtop protector from Kimberly-Clark Professional features a polyethylene backing that creates an effective fluid barrier while providing excellent slip resistance. The protector resists harsh chemicals, quickly...

Fume hood panels.(new products)(MFG Composite Systems Co.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... In an effort to facilitate improved fume hood fabrication yields, MFG Composite Systems Co. has introduced a proprietary oversized fiberglass reinforced plastic composite sheet that's 1.5 in. larger than the industry standard (49.5x97.5 in. vs....

Area flowmeter.(new products)
April 1, 2008... KROHNE, Inc. features the H250F sanitary variable area flowmeter suitable for the process flow measurement of liquids, gases, and saturated vapor in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The sanitary design of the 3A-approved H250F can be...

DNA extraction system.(new products)
April 1, 2008... Mole Genetics launched the new GeneMole[R] automated DNA extraction system in Europe following successful trials in the Nordic region. The system is closed and fully automated, comprising a liquid-handling robot capable of running 1 to 16...

The revised USP Chapter <797> in review: revision to USP Chapter <797> evidences the evolution of compounding practices needed to stay current with emerging technology and concerns.(compounding corner)
April 1, 2008... The wait is over! After 30 months since the 2005-2010 Sterile Compounding Expert Committee convened, the revised USP Chapter is now available on USP's web site (www.usp.org/USPNF/pf/generalChapter797.html). It is scheduled to become official...

Calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2008... MAY 4-7 ESTECH 2008, 54th IEST Annual Technical Meeting. Hilton Bloomingdale Indian Lakes Resort, Bloomingdale, IL. For more information: www.iest.org MAY 5-7 SEMICON Singapore 2008. Suntec Singapore International Convention &...