CleanRooms articles from June 2002

CleanRooms archives from June 2002

Sweden's burgeoning biotech boom: although it lacks cleanroom manufacturing capacity, the country has all the tools to be a potential global leader. (Inside Europe).
June 1, 2002... STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Known for the prestigious Nobel Prize and a world-class ski team, Sweden is now making an all-out push to become a recognized leader in biotechnology. The country currently has a number of promising biotech startups...

Pall buys five USFilter businesses for $360 million.
June 1, 2002... EAST HILLS, NY -- PALL CORP. HAS ACQUIRED the Filtration and Separations Group of USFilter Corp.(San Diego, CA) in a $360 million deal that officials from both companies say will allow each to broaden products and services in target core...

Novartis to build new research facility in Bay State.
June 1, 2002... BASEL, SWITZERLAND -- WHEN IT IS ALL SAID and done, Novartis AG (Basel, Switzerland) will have dedicated a significant amount of cleanroom space to the 255,000-square-foot global research center it is fashioning from a building in Cambridge,...

Drug makers back in FDA hot water.(Schering-Plough Corp. and Abbott Laboratories cited for numerous and repeated instances of substandard manufacturing. )
June 1, 2002... ROCKVILLE, MD -- FOR THE SECOND TIME in the span of just over a year, two drug makers, the Schering-Plough Corp. and Abbott Laboratories, are in trouble with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for numerous and repeated instances of...

Summer 2002: CleanRooms will host its annual shows in Europe, Asia and launch CleanRooms China.
June 1, 2002... FRANKFURT, SINGAPORE & SHANGHAI -- CleanRooms magazine is kicking off its summer events in Frankfurt, Germany with CleanRooms Europe (June 18-21, 2002). In July, the Group sets up shop in Singapore for CleanRooms Asia (July 30-August 1, 2002)...

Agilent opens facility in Shanghai. (Particles).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... With the opening of its newest facility in Shanghai, Agilent Technologies Inc. hopes to aid China in becoming an international leader in research and development (R&D) facilities. The new company, Agilent Technologies Shanghai Co. Ltd. (ATS) is...

Quanta receives orders from Sharp, looks to expand capacity. (Particles).(Sharp Corp orders TFT-LCD modules from Quanta Display Inc)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Quanta Display Inc. (Taipei) received an order to assemble rear-end Thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) modules from Japan-based Sharp. Quanta will begin delivery of the modules in late March and expects new orders from Sharp...

SMIC places follow-on order with M+W Zander. (Particles).(Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation orders clean room)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... M+W Zander (Shanghai, China), a Jenoptik subsidiary, has received a follow-on order from China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to engineer and construct a cleanroom. The total designated cleanroom space will...

Palomar forms alliance. (Particles).(Palomar Technologies Inc. joins with Axsys Technnologies Inc., Creative Automation. and LX Lightwave )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Palomar Technologies Inc. (Vista, CA) has signed Axsys Technnologies Inc., Creative Automation and LX Lightwave to provide photonic component manufacturers with a single-source for fully automated assembly, test and alignment systems. "With...

AERONEX named in lawsuit. (Particles).(by SAES Getters S.p.A.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... AERONEX Inc. (San Diego, CA) has been named in a patent infringement action brought by SAES Getters S.p.A. AERONEX denies the allegations because, according to the company, the GateKeeper and Infinity GPS gas purifier technology is not covered...

Cintas truck stolen, garments gone.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... KANSAS CITY MS -- THE FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believes that a delivery truck heisted from cleanroom garment service provider Cintas Corp. and robbed of airport uniforms was not the work of terrorists. "At this point, we don't...

A unified contamination control community. (Viewpoint).(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... I've fielded a number of calls this past month from readers who have noticed how we've opened up our coverage to all things relevant to the contamination control continuum News of cleanroom technology, products and standard developments...

Calling all parties to the table. (Viewpoint).(Editorial)
June 1, 2002... The front page of the May 2001 issue of CleanRooms featured a story about how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began cracking down on shoddy pharmaceutical manufacturing, handing down the stiffest fines in history. And here it...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2002... It's about time we learn from one another I read Chris Anderson's article regarding the Medical Device industry becoming more contamination-vigilant, and felt I needed to respond. I spent quite a few years in both the biotech industry...

Arriving at an approximate cost: data from 20 cleanroom projects around the U.S. is analyzed in an effort to produce an initial cost evaluation for a variety of cleanroom projects. (Design & Construction).
June 1, 2002... In the first two parts of this column we've emphasized the need for all parties involved in a cleanroom design/build project to comprehend the affect that each design feature will have on the overall cost. In the last column (see...

Pharmacy management facing pressures to improve, update sterile facilities: hospital environments have been identified as a major source of secondary infections. (Life Sciences).
June 1, 2002... Hospital and homecare pharmacies in the United States number in the thousands and range m size from facilities servicing a patient load of less than 20 beds to those servicing hundreds. This diversity of size and internal technical...

Six weeks flat: chip filtration and separation firm coverts ISO Class 6 cleanroom to ISO Class 5 in tight timeframe. (Built to Spec).(Pall Portsmouth Ltd.)
June 1, 2002... To transform a 1,000-square-foot ISO Class 6 cleanroom into ISO Class 5 environment in just six weeks may sound like tall order, but Pall Portsmouth Ltd. (Hampshire, England) managed to pull it off. "We did it in a manufacturing window,"...

Food safety in the age of terrorism: food processors assess the security of products and processes post-September 11. (Special Report).
June 1, 2002... When a community in Oregon suffered a mysterious outbreak of food-borne illness in 1984, it took more than a year for public health authorities to pinpoint the cause--intentional contamination of restaurant salad bars. Hoping to incapacitate...

Wireless particle counter. (Inventor's Corner).(Aleksandr L. Yufa receives patent)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The method and apparatus counts and measures contamination in air, gas and liquids. It includes a remote sensor (A), a wireless data processing and control system (B), a microprocessor (C) and a wireless communication means (D). The...

Purification system. (Inventor's Corner).(Toray Industries Inc receives patent)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The unit has a filter (A) made of laminated fiber sheets (B) and contained within a box (C). A non-woven fabric (D) and aluminum screen (E) is placed over the sheets, and the entire unit is then secured with a cover (F). Openings on either...

Wafer dry-cleaning method. (Inventor's Corner).(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd receives patent)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Disclosed in the invention is a method for dry cleaning a wafer containers (A) such as a SMIF pod, that are equipped with a bottom mounting plate (B) that is covered with contaminating particles (C). In the method, the wafer containers are...

Contamination reduction. (Inventor's Corner).(LSI Logic Corp receives patent)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The invention is a method for depositing a film on a surface of a semiconductor wafer, while preventing defects on the surface. The method calls for selecting a quartz carrier for holding the wafer during film deposition, and must be one...

Reducing water usage in semiconductor manufacturing: approval for plant expansion often comes with the stipulation that water demand from the regional supply remains unchanged. (Ultrapure Water).
June 1, 2002... While semiconductor manufacturing is a minor user of the world's total water sup ply, its impact on specific regions can be significant. For example, Intel Rio Rancho is the largest water user in the Bernalillo water district of New Mexico,...

Cleanroom fire safety enters new era: insurance standards now call for tools to be fabricated from new fire-resistant materials. A panel of materials experts considers new challenges facing fab owners and tool makers. (Semiconductor Panel).(Panel Discussion)
June 1, 2002... Editor's Note: This article is taken from a panel discussion on key issues involving fire-safe plastics, cleanroom tools and fume exhaust systems with an emphasis on owners needs, process compatibility and total cost of ownership. ...

Getting a handle on gloves. (Product Spotlight).
June 1, 2002... Putting a finger on the right cleanroom glove for a specific application can be a handful for even the savviest of contamination control professionals. On one hand, the search will undoubtedly lead to the discovery of several manufacturers...

BD BBL[TM] Sterile Pack Prepared Plated Media. (Introducing BD Sterile Pack Media Products).
June 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).
June 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).
June 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...

Temperature, humidity logger. (New Products).
June 1, 2002... The sGo software for Palm OS enables users to take real-time readings and download the company's Spectrum data loggers using a Palm handheld. A typical Palm handheld can download dozens of data logger files, reducing collection time for those...

Automated manufacturing system. (New Products).
June 1, 2002... The ATS Flexsys family of standardized, high-precision automated manufacturing systems for advanced packaging and assembly in optoelectronics and microelectronics accommodates multiple process and assembly operations on a single automated...

Escape hood. (New Products).
June 1, 2002... The DefendAir provides users with an effective filtering protection from tear gas and other atmospheres requiring a P100 particle filter and has received NIOSH government approval. The hood, with an integrated filter, is designed to offer users...

Versatile cart. (New Products).
June 1, 2002... The HD Series cart offers good ergonomics and mounts flat-panel monitors or laptop computers for point-of-need computing. The cart can accommo-date sitting or standing use for a range of users and has a 15-inch vertical adjustment. The screen...

Vibration isolation. (New Products).
June 1, 2002... The Q-Damp is designed for use with the company's Gimbal piston air vibration isolation tables and is ideal for electrophysiology research, metrology tools, AFMs and optical microscope-based tools. The Q-Damp works by sensing residual vibration...

New food production users can certainly learn from the biological safety paradigm. (Unfiltered).
June 1, 2002... My introduction into the world of cleanrooms was through the science of biological safety, where the emphasis is on protecting people. The biological safety paradigm is: keep organisms from getting out; contain the ones that have gotten out and...

Clean enclosure systems. (Advertisement).
June 1, 2002... Servicor's HEPAStation[TM] is a completely portable Class 100 (or better) laminar flow workstation at an affordable price. Constructed from baked powder-coated tubular steel, the HEPAStation[TM] comes in standard 2'x4', 2'x6' and 2'x8' sizes...

Portable Wall units. (Advertisement).
June 1, 2002... Servicor's FastWall[TM] units provide a portable clean enclosure system in minutes. Simply arrange the panels and telescope to the desired height (5'4" to 10'2" on standard models). The system is designed specifically for cleanroom use, uses...

Garment Enclosures. (Advertisement).
June 1, 2002... Extend the life of your cleanroom garments with Servicor's Class 100 (or better) Clean Air Garment Enclosure[TM] (C.A.G.E.). The HEPA filter placed atop this unit bathes your cleanroom suits and smocks with 14 air changes per minute, which...

Cleanroom curtains. (Advertisement).
June 1, 2002... Limit traffic, control airflow, and minimize electrostatic discharge at the same time with Servicor's Servi-Stat II[TM] antistatic vinyl curtains. Available as sliding track accordian-style curtains, laminar flow shields (ClearShield[TM]), room...