CleanRooms articles from March 2003

CleanRooms archives from March 2003

Contamination control to prove vital in NASA mission to Mars: if NASA sticks to schedule, rovers will hit ground free of any earthly life forms.
March 1, 2003... PASADENA, Calif.--Martians, if any exist, will witness a strange site twice during January 2004. That's when two NASA Mars Exploration Rovers will come to a bouncing stop, deflate cushioning airbags and begin to crawl across the Martian...

Koller assumes PDA post.(Neal G. Koller becomes president of Parenteral Drug Association)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... BETHESDA, Md.--Neal G. Koller has taken the reins as president of the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA), succeeding Edmund M. Fry who resigned from the post after 11 years last September to join IVAX Pharmaceuticals (Miami, Fla.). Koller...

Standard aims to reduce FOUP fire hazards.( front-opening unified pods )
March 1, 2003... NORWOOD, Mass--In its latest installment of guidelines geared to reduce fire hazards and property losses within chip fabs, FM Approvals has issued Approval Standard 4911, "Wafer Carriers for Use in Cleanrooms," which provides manufacturers and...

FDA hones initiative focus to get it right the first time. (CleanZone).
March 1, 2003... ROCKVILLE, Md.--Six months after it announced a plan to significantly revamp current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late-February announced that it had accomplished its initial objectives to...

An unbearable lightness. (Viewpoint).
March 1, 2003... At every turn, we seem to be hit with information that's throwing us off the scent of recovery, putting our nation in a suspended sense of uncertainty that we've never quite experienced before. Right before press time, we learned that...

Guidance withdrawal too good to be true. (News).
March 1, 2003... ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The phone in Randall Woods' office began ringing off the hook shortly after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its withdrawal of a proposed guidance calling for electronic records and signatures for such...

TIR, Aketon partner to develop cleanroom lighting and ceiling package. (News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- TIR Systems Ltd., a specialty lighting manufacturer, and Aketon Technologies, a Corvallis, Ore.-based maker of cleanroom ceiling systems, have teamed up to minimize an expensive and contaminating problem in fabs...

Chartered closure. (Particles).(Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing will shut down the oldest of its five Singapore chip-making plants by March 2004)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... SINGAPORE -- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing will close the oldest of its five chip-making plants here by March next year, laying off 500 workers. The move will save the giant chipmaker $25 million a year and allow the company to...

Leaping lithography. (Particles).(University at Albany and International Sematech to launch joint five-year program to accelerate development of next generation lithography)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... ALBANY, NY -- The University at Albany (UAlbany) and International Sematech (ISMT), a global consortium of semiconductor manufacturers, have completed negotiations on a joint five-year program to accelerate the development of next generation...

O2 finds breathing room. (Particles).(02 Science opens pharmacy within corporate office)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... TEMPE, AZ -- 02 Science, a regional provider of respiratory therapy services and home healthcare products, has opened a pharmacy within its corporate offices here. The pharmacy includes a cleanroom, where the mixing of medications is...

Shipley shape. (Particles).(Shipley Company opens Advanced Technology Center)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... MARLBORO, MA -- Shipley Company, LLC, has opened its Advanced Technology Center (ATC), a facility dedicated to the development of lithography, interconnect, low-k dielectric and other critical materials needed to produce new generations of...

Pass the oregano. (Particles).(found to be an antimicrobial agent)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... AMHERST, Mass. -- Oregano, a spice found in most kitchens, has proved effective as an antimicrobial agent against Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat meat and poultry, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The...

Feds investigating "white" particles in blood, refusing to confirm findings. (News).
March 1, 2003... ATLANTA, Ga.--A Deerfield, Ill.-based drug and medical device maker says the white particles found in donor blood contained in 100 of its pack units are natural forms of clotting, but federal health officials refused to confirm those findings...

Regurgitated rhetoric. (On the Beat).(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 1, 2003... The teleconference was sloppily scripted, and the players were as awkward as kids in a school play. Key Food and Drug Administration officials, however, sat there and touted "initial ojbectives," as if targeting shoddy manufacturers,...

Rodents, insects and birds plague food processors. (On the Beat).
March 1, 2003... ROCKVILLE, MD -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it smells a rat--several, to be exact--within a number of food processing and distribution facilities. In early February, the United States filed a complaint for permanent...

Letters.
March 1, 2003... You say potato... I just read the January 2003 issue of CleanRooms and, as usual, was impressed with both the content and presentation. I have an issue to present in line with the articles on minienvironments and their testing. As an...

Cleanroom airflow: issues other than cleanliness often drive HVAC design. (Setting the Standard).
March 1, 2003... Much has been written recently regarding cleanroom airflow and airflow velocities. This interest is prompted by the desire to balance the contamination-control requirements of facilities with the energy consumption associated with moving the...

Increased qualification of cleanroom certifiers attests to the maturity of the industry. (Electronics).
March 1, 2003... In my very first column published in CleanRooms four years ago this month, I wrote: "The instrumentation, software and knowledge required for verification of cleanroom classifications are well known to specialists who provide verification...

Secondary containment is a must when designing a contamination control system. (Life Sciences).
March 1, 2003... The margin for error in selecting and implementing contamination control solutions that provide adequate levels of protection is getting smaller and smaller. Exposure limits for hazardous drugs continue to range at lower and lower levels...

Ready for the next generation of EHS challenges?(Semiconductor Environmental, Health and Safety Association)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Semiconductor Environmental, Safety & Health Association (SESHA) will help you get ready. Join us as an attendee in San Antonio April 13-17, for professional development courses, workshops, roundtables and cutting edge sessions. Attendees...

Building a much anticipated dialog: FDA and industry are in the middle of working out their differences on an update to the 1987 aseptic processing guidance. (Special Report).
March 1, 2003... Disappointment was the general industry reaction last fall when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a preliminary follow-up to its 1987 aseptic processing guidance. While manufacturers praised the effort that went into the...

Downturn meant downshifting to "value engineering alternatives": Photonics R&D start-up moves forward with scaled-back design. (Built to Spec).
March 1, 2003... The design was complete, and 25 percent of the work on a start-up company's research and development facility was finished when desperate times called for desperate measures. The feasibility of the $3 million job for Ahura Corp., a...

Microfiltration apparatus. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Microfiltration wells have an important role in many biological and biochemical applications, including sample preparation, genome sequencing and drug discovery programs. The use of a single sheet of filter material to construct the...

Particle counter. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The invention controls contamination on product surfaces, machine tools and work areas within semiconductor, data storage, fluid filter, display, aerospace and medical industry cleanrooms. The device has a tacky surface (A) that is mounted...

Ultrasonic cleaning device. (Inventor's Corner).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The ultrasonic device uses cleaning liquid (A)--pure water, in most cases--that is sprayed through a series of nozzles (B) to clean upper and lower substrate surfaces (C) in the manufacturing of flat-panel, liquid crystal or plasma displays....

A practical guide to the investigation of microbial excursions. (Cleanroom Strategies: Training Session).
March 1, 2003... How to identify the causes and establish long- and short-term solutions to eliminate these costly events in your pharmaceutical/biotechnology facility. I frequently visit pharmaceutical and biotechnology facilities to provide assistance in...

Raised flooring has elevated its status: from simple slab to an intricate piece of an airflow scheme, the raised cleanroom floor is now more than a support system. (Advanced Technology Flooring).
March 1, 2003... Manufacturing flooring never commanded much respect since the dawning of the Industrial Revolution. Even in plants that took great pride in keeping their factory floors gleaming, floors could never compete with the status accorded the more...

Consider the electrolytic ozone generator for your pure disinfection system: group seeks to create a high-level, pure-aqueous ozone disinfectant system that leaves no chemical residue. (Disinfection Study).
March 1, 2003... Present methods for high-level disinfectants in the pharmaceutical industry leave a chemical residue that can alter the effectiveness of the drugs being produced. For example, one disinfectant that uses a combination of hydrogen peroxide...

Cleaning system. (Product Spotlight).
March 1, 2003... The Kiercide Cleaning System range includes triple bucket systems designed for use with a flat-head cleanroom mop. The mop is designed for sterile, single-use, disposable flat mop heads. Sterile mop heads are supplied individually double-bagged...

Spray/mop/fogger system. (Product Spotlight).
March 1, 2003... The Core2Clean Spray/Mop/Fogger System is used to apply cleaning and disinfecting agents to the surface of cleanrooms. The system is constructed of 304-316 stainless-steel, is compressed air-operated, is designed to assure an improved cleaned...

Autoclavable mop. (Product Spotlight).
March 1, 2003... The BetaMop II a tubular polyester mop for use on cleanroom floors features a highcapacity, seamless, 100 percent knitted polyester head construction with high sorptive capacity. Designed for use with wring-bucket systems, it is constructed of...

Sweaty strains. (Particles).
March 1, 2003... BERKELEY, Calif -- Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have determined that spores of an anthrax cousin swell by a significant amount as humidity increases, a surprising discovery that could lead to a rapid way of detecting...

Intel intrepidity. (Particles).
March 1, 2003... SANTA CLARA, Calif.--intel Corp. will shell out $2 billion for a 300-mm conversion of its Chandler, Ariz. manufacturing plant. Once it opens in 2005, it will be the company's filth facility to produce chips on the larger wafers, says Craig...

Laundered polyester mop. (Productspotlight).
March 1, 2003... The BCR Mop 4 cleanroom laundered polyester mop is designed for both the removal of contamination from floors and for the distribution of disinfectants. It is made of 100 percent knitted laundered polyester, which features a looped-end fantail...

Anti-static curtain. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Electro-Safe, a durable, transparent vinyl curtain, is equipped with carbon scrim, which grounds out all electric charges and brings the curtain down to zero voltage. The curtain is also fire-resistant for use in oxygen-rich and dust-free...

Aerosol particle sensor. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Available in a chemically resistant, stainless-steel box, IsoAir features 0.5 and 5.0 channels. It has Ethernet and/or 4-20 mA output. It is controlled by Facility Net software, which provides advanced reporting features, as well as alarm...

Gas/Air sampling system. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The M Air T compressed gas and air sampling system is designed to monitor the microbial quality of compressed gas and air lines in aseptic manufacturing environments. To facilitate high-volume sampling, the system can process up to 1,000 L of...

Diaphragm valves. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Meeting Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) standard F57-0301 for ultrahigh-purity polymer system components, the DRP series ultrahigh-purity fluoropolymer diaphragm valve is designed for use in several applications,...

Leveling mounts. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Jacmount PRGI Stainless-steel Levelers feature an all stainless-steel construction and the Wedgmount VRC Series High Damping Leveling Mounts have a nickel-plated body. Both are available with a selection of nitrile or neoprene vibration...

Swab Rinse Kit. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The EnviroTrans Swab Rinse Kit is designed for the detection and enumeration of microorganisms from environmental surfaces and designed to collect and transport the environmental sample efficiently. It consists of ten 15x17-mm polypropylene...

Automatic door openers. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The Air Force system is designed for pharmaceutical and other clean area applications, including cleanroom or washdown, due to the strength coupled with a corrosion-resistant design. It has an opening force of 200 pounds and can drive doors up...

Data logger software. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... ViewLinc software allows users to connect to data loggers over a network, view temperature and humidity readings and receive alarm warnings. Compatible with all of the company's data loggers, users can set their own alarm points and choose to...

Rigid wall cleanrooms. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Available from ISO Class 8 to ISO Class 4, the Series 591 Rigid Wall cleanrooms are modular, prefabricated cleanroom systems that feature open free spans from six to 24 feet and interior room heights from eight to 14 feet. The rigid wall design...

Extractor arms. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The three-inch-diameter standard and stainless-steel range of extractor arms are designed to provide a means by which to extract hazardous materials such as pharmaceutical dusts and acidic and caustic chemicals. The fume arms have no...

Linear track robot kit. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The configurable kits expand robot work envelopes for a variety of applications. They consist of a linear track, mounting bracket and cable track that are integrated with the company's tabletop SCARA and six-axis robots with SmartController and...

Anemometer. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Designed to check HEPA and ULPA filters, the Climomaster Model A531 measures air velocity, temperature, relative humidity and pressure. Built-in calibration data in its compatible probe lets you share the main unit among other probes. ...

Softwall cleanrooms. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... Available from ISO Class 8 to ISO Class 4, the Series 577 Soft Wall cleanrooms feature durable and lightweight steel frames, clear polished vinyl curtains, motorized ceiling HEPA filters and lights. The rooms can be furnished with a prefab...

Air knife system. (New Products).
March 1, 2003... The air knife system includes all stainless-steel and food-grade components, including an in-line HEPA filter, sanitary air knives with clamp fittings and sanitary butt weld fittings meeting the 3-A requirements for direct food contact. Each...

Canadian biotech company unveils genome-based contamination control technology. (News).(Bio-ID Diagnostic Inc. will bring its Multigen technology to market)
March 1, 2003... SASKATOON, Saskatchewan--Hollywood woos viewers with police dramas that often feature a criminal being sent up the river because his or her DNA was found at the crime scene. But a biotechnology firm developing genome-identifying platforms...

Undulating ultraviolet. (Particles).(Georgia Institute of Technology researchers develop a new method of disinfecting water used in food processing)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... ATLANTA, Ga. -- Georgia Institute of Technology researchers say they have developed a better-performing, less costly method of disinfecting water used in food processing. Like current technologies, the new Advanced Disinfection Technology...

Cleanroom management: information technology offers a compliant roadmap for quality. (Unfiltered).
March 1, 2003... Pharmaceutical manufacturing organizations face the challenge of balancing resources to meet and maintain current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) compliance expectations with their need to continually improve the efficiency of operations....

Air Energy Systems new identity: AES Clean Technology, Inc.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Air Energy Systems, a leading cleanroom design/builder and manufacturer, recently announced its new corporate identity and logo: AES Clean Technology, Inc. The new logo and identity reflect the company's growth and leadership position within in...

Cost effective modular cleanrooms from AES.(Advertisement)
March 1, 2003... AES has just completed an internal study demonstrating the value of modular MSS Pharma cleanrooms when compared to "stick-built" construction. The study identified many value factors of the MSS modular system including initial cost, shortened...

Walkable cleanroom ceiling--maintenance access outside the cleanroom.(AES Clean Technology)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The MSS Pharma ceiling panel system is designed to accommodate the most stringent facility applications requiring a high level of aseptic detailing. The system is designed as a flush cleanroom ceiling, providing walk-on capabilities for...