Distinguished cleanroom career marked by a series of `firsts`
By Tammy Wright
Editor`s Note: This is the fifth in a series of articles celebrating the accomplishments of the distinguished members of the CleanRooms Hall of Fame.
J. Gordon King`s career in the contamination control industry can be characterized by a series of “firsts.” The global consultant was one of the first to utilize the laminar airflow principle in cleanroom construction design; he was the first to develop and chair the working group that created Federal Standard 209; and he was among the first group of professionals to be inducted into CleanRoom magazine`s Hall of Fame.
From 1948 to 1965, King was employed by Sandia Corp. (Albuquerque, NM), where he originated and operated a materials laboratory as well as a manufacturing R&D group whose projects focused on automation, laser welding, direct-write ion-beam deposition and contamination control. It was the group`s contamination control work that resulted in the further development of the laminar flow cleanroom design, which was invented by King`s peer, Willis Whitfield. During his tenure at the company, King also developed plans for microbiological testing of cleanrooms for applications in medical and pharmaceutical facilities, and extended the application of those plans to NASA for the space program.
In 1965, King left Sandia to accept a position at Texas Instruments, Inc. (Dallas). He spent the next 17 years developing and operating a comprehensive contamination control program for the company. King was responsible for the design and construction of 37 semiconductor facilities located in the U.S., Europe and Pacific Rim countries, and for training personnel conducting those operations.
In 1982, King — who is an engineer by trade and education — went into business for himself. He founded King Consulting (Eustace, TX), offering consultation services to contamination control facilities worldwide, including many in the biochemical, microelectronic and medical fields. In his independent role, King has used his expertise to launch aerospace projects and ramp up classified government facilities. He worked with VTC, Inc. to facilitate the first completely “SMIFed” wafer fab in existence. His other clients include IBM, Xerox Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.
In addition to his full-time efforts, King has promoted the development of cleanroom technology through associations with various trade groups and by publishing and presenting papers on subjects ranging from his views on industry standards to particle generation and air filtration. After half a century, he remains as devoted to his endeavors today as he was when he was first introduced to the concept of controlling contamination in manufacturing environments.
In honor of his achievements, King was inducted into the CleanRooms Hall of Fame in 1990.