CleanRooms articles from June 2003

CleanRooms archives from June 2003

Puerto Rico: a lure for life sciences, growth area for contamination control market; island has offshore advantages with comforts of home. (CleanZone).
June 1, 2003... OLD SAN JUAN, P.R.--A visitor strolling through the narrow, cobblestone streets between the colorful, colonial buildings of this historic paradise may have a hard time imagining that 16 of the top 20 drugs sold in the United States are...

Brooks and Entegris find fresh fields in life sciences: semi equipment providers leverage core competencies to serve brave new world.(Brooks Automation)
June 1, 2003... CHELMSFORD, MASS--While many companies that service wafer fabs around the world swoon in concert with chip manufacturers, companies such as Brooks Automation, based here, and Entegris (Chaska, Minn.) have found success in the life sciences and...

Old standard is still kicking--for now.(cleanroom specifications in Federal Standard 209E)
June 1, 2003... GREENSBORO, N.C--To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of Federal Standard 209E have been greatly exaggerated. Although the decades old clean-room specification rode off into the sunset in late 2001, facilities are stilt referred...

Sound sterilization gives dentist something to smile about.(cavitation)
June 1, 2003... SNELLVILLE, G.A.--By the time the late '80s rolled around, AIDS and other infectious diseases had frantically intensified the meaning of sterilization. And it was right around this same time that a dentist in this Atlanta suburb began thinking...

A cast of reasonable predictions. (Viewpoint).(cleanroom forecast)
June 1, 2003... Where were you in your career 10 years ago? Where will you be 10 years from now? Take a look at your situation today: Did you have any idea you'd be where you are? Every person, technology and product has a timeline--a history and a...

UV stirring method may improve current disinfection techniques. (News).(ultraviolet light)
June 1, 2003... ATLANTA, GA.--Perhaps James Bond had it all wrong when he said, "shaken, not stirred." Stirring, or mixing liquids at a specific revolution under ultraviolet radiation could prove to be a less costly and more effective process than...

Burping bag. (Particles).(blood filtration system)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... EAST HILLS, N.Y--Pall Corp. has received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new filtration system, Leukotrap WB, which collects, filters and stores whole blood without the need for "burping" (manually squeezing) the bag to remove...

DRAM definite. (Particles).(Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America to upgrade wafer fabrication plant)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... EUGENE, ORE.--Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America (HSMA), the U.S. subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor Inc., has reaffirmed its plans to invest $100 million to upgrade its DRAM wafer fab here. Hynix has invested more than $1 :6 billion...

Job generator. (Particles).(Samsung Austin Semiconductor to upgrade plant)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... AUSTIN, TEX--The $500 million upgrade of the Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLP plant here will add 300 jobs, company President Sung Lee says. According to a statement, Samsung Austin Semiconductor already employs 950, and the advanced...

Cleanrooms vs. isolators: a healthy debate. (On the Beat).(contamination control methods)
June 1, 2003... Ask a drug maker about cleanrooms, and they will quickly and perhaps even defensively point out that they do not operate an aseptic process. Maybe so, but whether it's Zyrtec for allergies or HeartGard for Rover, most, if not all,...

The standard bubble and static pressure decay put to the test. (Setting the Standard).(gas leak testing)
June 1, 2003... Last month, we discussed high-purity gas systems and how that even extremely small leaks can present problems. We looked at the phenomena of partial pressure differences to explain how gas phase impurities can "backflow" from the low pressure,...

Assign personal health a higher priority than product demands. (Electronics).(high incidence of urinary tract infections among cleanroom workers)
June 1, 2003... As I write this column, I'm slowly recovering from a urinary tract infection (UTI). In confiding this bit of personal history to various associates, I was struck by the number of them who had suffered similar discomfort during the course of...

CleanRooms 2013: experts in this CleanRooms virtual roundtable discussion predict the future of advanced manufacturing and build a futuristic facility from the ground up. (Special Report).
June 1, 2003... Molecular contamination will prove a greater threat, cleanrooms will ship in pre-assembled pieces, and equipment will clean itself. Step into the cleanroom of the future, however, and it will look much like today's facility. Although some of...

A handheld with downloads. (Product Spotlight).
June 1, 2003... The HHPC-6 handheld airborne particle counter is designed to simultaneously display six channels of particle size distribution. It holds 500 samples (2,000 with Option EX) in data memory, and records date, time, counts, sample volume,...

Get simultaneous calculations. (Product Spotlight).
June 1, 2003... The APC (airborne particle counter) line of handheld instruments are designed to measure four particle size ranges at one time (0.3, 0.5,1.0 and 5.0 [mu]m). The units feature what the manufacturer says is a user-friendly control panel,...

Laser-powered accuracy. (Product Spotlight).
June 1, 2003... The LASAIR 11-110 is billed as the first aerosol particle-counting monitor to use a thermally-chilled, solid-state diode laser to count 0.1-[mu]m particles. The manufacturer says the technology is designed for maximum accuracy, reduced...

Works solo or with a team. (Product Spotlight).
June 1, 2003... Designed with a large, color touch screen interface, the Solair 3100+ can store considerable particle count data for six particle size channels, as well as data from up to four environmental sensors, The Solair is designed to offer a...

Single particle accuracy. (Product Sportlight).
June 1, 2003... In contrast to ensemble devices, the AccuSizer 780/SPOS is designed to provide true particle size distribution (PSD) by quickly sizing and counting large numbers of particles, one at a time. The manufacturer says AccuSizer 780 yields PSDs with...

Simple accuracy. (Product Spolight).
June 1, 2003... The CI-20 Compact Particle Counter, according to its manufacturer, is simple enough to be used by those new to monitoring airborne particles yet accurate and compact enough for advanced users looking for a unit with counts that match Climet's...

Achieving the finely tuned world of the microminiaturized. (Facility Design Planning).(microelectromechanical systems laboratories)
June 1, 2003... Given the complexities of both the product and its development sequence, MEMS organizations need facilities specially tailored to research, configuration and cleanroom production Whoever coined the phrase "good things come in small...

Biological safety cabinet. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... The SterilGARD Ill Advance, Class II Type A2 biological safety cabinet features a slanted viewscreen that is sloped 10 degrees to reduce glare and create a natural head and elbow position when working. The sloped cabinet and a streamlined front...

Peripheral laminar flow bench. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... The 4015 peripheral flow horizontal laminar flow clean bench has been redesigned to provide high-velocity return air intake slots along the side panels, front top, and front edge of the work surface. According to the company, this construction...

Bio/pharmaceutical cleanroom. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... Made of double-wall 304/316 stainless or powder-coated steel, this modular cleanroom--intended for safe handling and packaging of hazardous pharmaceutical and biological materials-features ultra-smooth interior walls with radius corners. A...

Safety light curtain. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... The 14-mm resolution version of the compact MicroSafe MC4700 series safety light curtain is available in protected heights from 150 mm to 1800 mm, and offers a sensing range to 5 m. According to the manufacturer, tight resolution combined with...

Pure water system. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... Total Pure Water Solutions is a suite of products, technologies and services that provide custom design, installation, validation and maintenance of the company's water purification systems. The company offers project management, design and...

Humidifier. (New Products).
June 1, 2003... With the redesign of the STS steam-to-steam humidifier, the top cover can be removed without disconnecting vapor hose or dispersion piping, and the new large side cleanout plate enables direct access to the heat exchanger for inspection or...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) well underway. (Unfiltered).
June 1, 2003... The technological advances of the last half of the 20th century brought the prefix MICRO into everyday use. Everything from microprocessors to micro-mini skirts affected the way we worked and relaxed. Now, a new prefix--NANO--is starting to...

Designing in ultraviolet technologies for bioburden reduction. (Reducing Bioburden).(air filtration)
June 1, 2003... Biopharmaceutical manufacturers are evaluating UV to supplement HEPA filters in filtering critical environments and reducing ductwork sanitization In designing a cleanroom for bio pharmaceutical manufacturing, the airflow into and out of...

The start-up of a biopharmaceutical facility, in three acts. (Biotech Facility Planning).
June 1, 2003... The start-up of any manufacturing facility is a complex and multileveled undertaking; however, the start up of a biopharmaceutical facility presents unique challenges beyond even the standard considerations of bringing a regulated facility to...

Plastic Factory, Part II: the final pieces of the disposable puzzle. (Alternative Manufacturing).(sterile transfer process systems)
June 1, 2003... Evolving plastic technologies aim to help biopharmaceutical makers eliminate expensive utilities, clean steam, CIP fluids, WFI, and autoclave facilities Editor's note: In Part I of "Plastic Factory" (see CleanRooms, February 2003,...