CleanRooms articles from August 2002

CleanRooms archives from August 2002

SEMI West notebook: recovery is here, but moderate.(Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International conference details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... SAN JOSE, CA -- SEMICON WEST 2002 opened here to tempered, conservative remarks by top company executives and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) leadership, with an agreement that while the recovery was underway, it...

Air Energy Systems acquires MSS.(MSS Cleanroom Technology Inc)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... MONTGOMERYVILLE, PA -- It was late 1999 when Air Energy Systems (AES) and MSS Clean Technology Inc. (Buford, GA) teamed up to provide contamination control solutions for numerous processes, a collaboration that recently, yet inadvertently, led...

Rapid contamination detection technology patent granted.(Micro Imaging Technology patent details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... LAGUNA HILLS, CA -- FOR THE last two years, a subsidiary of a fluid treatment and monitoring equipment maker has been secretly working on a laser-based technology that detects and identifies, in real time, potentially harmful contamination as...

FDA shuts down medical gas operations at Air Liquide facilities.(United States Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... COATESVILLE, PA -- INSPECTIONS BY THE U.S. FDA in early April shut down Air Liquide America Corp.'s (ALAC) medical gas facility here for failing to comply with certain current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) in the use of its...

PCR-basecl detection system ferrets out pathogens: Kraft Foods, USDA swear by DuPont Qualicon's BAX System.(radar detection system details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... WILMINGTON, DE -- IT WILL DO 200; it has sensitive radar detectors; and it is remarkably efficient. And with a $39,000 price tag, the PC-equipped BAX System from DuPont Qualicon (Wilmington, DE) sounds more like a sports car than a...

Integration provides sensor measurement, tool data management. (Particles).(Advanced Energy Industries Inc contract details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... FORT COLLINS, CO -- Advanced Energy Industries Inc., a provider of components and subsystems solutions for semiconductor, data storage and flat panel display processes, has integrated its Symphony EPM (equipment productivity manager) system...

Microchip to buy Fujitsu fab for $183.5 million.(Microchip Technology Inc contracts with Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... GRESHAM, OR -- MICROCHIP TECHNOLogy Inc.(Chandler, AZ) has signed an agreement to buy a chip fab here from Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc. for $183.5 million cash, a purchase, the buyers say, will substantially enhance Microchip's global...

Cree lands $26 million in government contracts. (Particles).(Chipmaker Cree, Inc contract details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... DURHAM, NC -- Chipmaker Cree, Inc. has been awarded more than $26 million in government contracts from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) for silicon carbide (SiC) microwave monolithic integrated...

Biotech's potential clean space crunch. (Viewpoint).(Editorial)
August 1, 2002... It's the most potent powder keg mankind has ever created. It has the potential to influence every living thing on earth. The issues that come in tow encompass the topics your grandmother begged you to avoid at dinner parties--religion, ethics....

Ignorance, apathy cuts like a knife. (Viewpoint).(Editorial)
August 1, 2002... We were young, some of us were barely out of high school, arid it really didn't matter to us if the blood was visible or not. It just went without saying that you would don latex gloves or any of the other recommended protective...

Some cautions concerning UPW degasification. (Electronics).(ultra-pure water )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Contemporary semiconductor fabs universally employ some type of degasification stage in their ultra-pure water (UPW) plants to reduce the concentration of dissolved gases. The preference now is for an oxide-free surface prior to initiating...

BD BBL Sterile Pack Prepared Plated Media. (Introducing BD Sterile Pack Media Products).(BD Biosciences)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... BD now offers BBL[TM] Isolator Pack Prepared Plated Media, specially packaged for isolators and developed with the same quality standards as the original BBL[TM] Sterile Pack Plated Media. With new multi-wrap packaging, the media has been...

BD Sterile Pack Bottles. (Introducing BD Sterile Pack Media Products).(BD Biosciences)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... Since nothing should compromise the integrity of your cleanroom, BD is proud to announce the availability of double-bagged liquid media. When the highest Sterility Assurance Level is needed, BD Sterile Pack Bottles are ideal. The bottles are...

BD Sterile Pack Swabs. (Introducing BD Sterile Pack Media Products).(BD Biosciences product details)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... BD BBL[TM] Sterile Pack Swabs are the first, double wrapped ready-to-use sterile swabs for surface sampling, combined with a rinse solution-filled tube. Sterile Pack Swabs eliminate the uncertainty that environmental samples could be...

Time to eliminate the "10-second rule" from parenteral preparation practice in hospitals. (Life Sciences).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... For those of you who are not familiar with the universal "10-second rule" regarding food consumption, it goes something like this: If you drop something on the ground, you can eat it if you pick it up within 10 seconds. There is a similar...

Tube and hose maker shoots for ISO Class 7, gets ISO Class 6: manufacturer says clean, pure products is its "future". (Built to Spec).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... AdvantaPure, a Southampton, PA-maker of thermoplastic and thermoset tubing and hosing for the pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetic and food industries, got more than it bargained for when it set Out to make its 2,500-square-foot ISO Class 8...

Targeting AMC: process engineers are now being charged with the task of controlling contamination control's most daunting menace. (Special Report).(airborne molecular contamination)
August 1, 2002... First addressed as a manufacturing concern by the Japanese more than a decade ago, airborne molecular contamination (AMC) has captured the attention of the semiconductor, microelectronics and optics industries here in the United States over the...

Semitool, Ashland take team approach to wet chemical processing. (Particles).(Ashland Specialty Chemical Co.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... DUBLIN, OH--The combined efforts of Semitool and the Ashland-ACT business unit of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company's Electronic Chemicals Division will focus on cleaning processes associated with integration of low k and copper materials for...

Molecular contamination control system. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The system and method for molecular contamination control allows a standard mechanical interface (SMIF) box, or pod (A), to be purged at desired levels of relative humidity, oxygen or particles. The SMIF pod includes an inlet port (B) that...

Removable-layered glove. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The protective gloves have removable outer layers (A) made of polyolefin and have contaminant-free inner layers underneath them (B) made of nonpyrogenic, elastomeric materials, including polyurethane, polyolefin, polyester, polyacrylate,...

Sterilizing AC system. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The air conditioning system has a sterilization/deodorization gas supply device (A) that includes a chemical container (B) and an evaporation acceleration unit (C) for vaporizing chemicals stored in the container. It is located along an air...

Gas filter. (Inventor's Corner).
August 1, 2002... A filter for gases, particularly for ventilation, includes elongated flow channels (A), which are partly formed by superimposing material layers (B). There, the flow channels (A) open to a gas inlet (C), while the terminal ends open to a gas...

Ultrasonic fogger. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The hand-held, portable, battery-operated ultrasonic (visible) vapor, or fog generator, is designed for cleanrooms and other types of controlled environments. The ultrasonic fog generator is designed to monitor laminar airflow between rooms,...

Oversized cleanrooms assume huge role in emerging flat-panel display production. (Flat-Panel).
August 1, 2002... PRODUCERS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING TO SORT THROUGH AND REFINE PRODUCTION METHODOLOGIES THAT CAN DELIVER HIGH VOLUME AT LOW COST. THE CLEANROOM IS EVOLVING TO MEET THESE NEEDS. It's hard to believe, but as late as the 1980s, "cleanroom" was...

After the sale: distributors as troubleshooters. (Distribution).
August 1, 2002... IT'S WIN/WIN SITUATION WHEN USERS TURN TO THEIR DISTRIBUTORS FOR HELP IN SOLVING CLEANROOM APPLICATION PROBLEMS. USERS GET AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE, WHILE DISTRIBUTORS GET A CHANCE TO CEMENT RELATIONSHIPS. One user had a high particle...

Swabs and wipers: two critical consumables; process engineers are now being charged witht he task of controlling contamination control's most daunting menace. (Product Spotlight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Swabs and wipers are two consumables that are crucial for both critical and non-critical cleaning processes. For the disk drive industry, the swab and wiper combat electrostatic discharge (ESD) and perpetrating particles that can render a...

Parenteral particle tester. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The HIAC 9703 System measures particles from small and large volume parenterals as well as fluid used for cleaning medical devices and precision parts. It detects particles in the range of 1.3 to 600 microns, according to company claims. The...

HEPA filter. (New Products).
August 1, 2002... The Ultra Low-pressure Drop EEF HEPA filter system offers the following specifications: 24x24x12 inches deep (same as conventional deep HEPAs), 0.5-inch water column (WC) pressure drop at 2400 scfm, and a lifetime of about two to three times...

Wiper dispenser. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The Wipe'O'Mat cleanroom wiper dispenser feeds a single wiper anytime to reduce waste. A built-in wetting mechanism, at the press of a button, lets you wet the wiper with a controlled amount of solvent of pre-determined concentration level. The...

Low-pressure sensor. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The LP 1000 series of low-differential/gauge pressure sensors is fully wet/wet compatible for use with conductive fluids, configured for uni-directional or bi-directional operation using a two-wire current or three-wire voltage interface. An...

Pressure calibrator. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Model 3610 Men-Cal II, a portable microprocessor-based pressure-sensing device for measuring differential, gauge, vacuum or absolute pressure, incorporates a Data Logging mode and on-board memory to provide calibration documentation at the...

Piezoelectric motors. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The HR-V and HR-UV Series motors are for use in vacuum environments. With a size range from a single-element (providing 0.45 kg of force) to an eight-element motor (providing 3.6 kg of force), the HR series is capable of driving both linear and...

Conveyor. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The roller knife-edge design on the conveyors permits the direct transfer of items from one conveyor to another without a transfer plate. This is accomplished with less friction and greater belt life than non-roller knife-edge conveyors. The...

Pressure transmitter. (New Products).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... With an accuracy of +/-0.5 percent FS, according to company claims, the Series 655 wet/wet differential pressure transmitter measures low-pressure ranges of 5.0 inches water column (WC) differential (1.24 kPa) and withstands working pressures...

Out with the old, in with the new. (Unfiltered).(semiconductor production facilities)(Column)
August 1, 2002... Industry professionals who spent the first half of their careers designing and building "state-of-the-art" semiconductor fabs will now spend their autumn years trying to figure out how to tear the darn things down. The transition to the...