Cleanroom facility designed to battle contamination and mother nature
Fast-track construction enables contractors to finish complex retrofit in a year and a day
Hyundai Electronic America`s $45-million MaxMedia fabrication plant and office complex (San Jose, CA) posed many challenges to general contractor McCarthy (St. Louis, MO). In addition to meeting the complexities of any microelectronics facility, the 137,600-square-foot facility, housing four classes of cleanrooms, needed to be operable within less than a year. The job was constructed in phases, with the final phase completed in August 1997.
Not only did McCarthy need to transform an existing sports center and office complex into three buildings that MaxMedia California (MMC) would use to manufacture 3.5-inch computer storage disks, contractors also had to take earthquake codes into account, as the facility is situated in a level 4 seismic zone between the San Andreas and Hayward faults.
Housing 700 employees at capacity, the new facility includes: Building A — a 75,000-square-foot computer disk fabrication facility housing cleanrooms of four different clean levels: a Class 10 sputter bay, a Class 100 reliability and testing area, a Class 1,000 texturing area, and a Class 10,000 washing area; and a 75,000-square-foot elevated fan deck for air handling equipment; Building B — a 57,000-square-foot structure housing a plating line, offices, research and development laboratories and chemical storage space; and Building C which comprises 5,600 square feet of office space.
Cleanroom temperature and RH are controlled to 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 45 percent RH with tight tolerances. The airflow in all four cleanrooms is positive vertical laminar and it is recirculated with about 2 percent outside air as makeup.
MMC Technology manufactures hard disk media for the disk drive industry. “Cleanroom processing is critical to the manufacturing of disks to insure that no contamination is present on the product which could reduce yields or create reliability problems in the disk drives,” explains Richard Flachbart, MaxMedia executive director operations engineer. “This facility is key to the future development of new technologies for disk manufacturing. As disk drive performance/capacities increase, state-of-the-art facilities, processes, and equipment are paramount.”
Challenges
The project`s first challenge on the project was to retrofit Building A to meet Title 24 earthquake codes, which dictate safety factors that need to be followed in seismic design in California. To do this, McCarthy replaced all existing columns, installed stabilizing shear walls, placed soil anchors and underpinned all of the existing footings. An interstitial mezzanine was also constructed to serve as a fan deck, which accommodates special auxiliary equipment including utility distribution and air handling units for the cleanroom production floor below.
A solution devised to meet seismic codes on all of the buildings involved the use of a special pipe connection. Instead of welding the pipes together in the facility, they were connected with Victaulic flexible fittings allowing adequate room for movement in the event of an earthquake. Nine miles of pipe were installed within a six-month period using this installation method. As another earthquake precaution, project architect/ engineer Keller & Gannon (San Francisco, CA) designed the complex so that the disk fabrication facility was separated from the central plant and adminis tration areas.
Innovative approach
This high tech project required extensive mechanical, electrical and plumbing coordination and a comprehensive commissioning program. In order to complete all of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing shop drawings and submittals in the aggressive timeline, the drafting of the coordination drawings was performed on-site. The coordination process for the main phase of the project and tool hook-up was completed in a period of only six weeks. This enabled the concrete work to be completed on time and provided for timely delivery of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing materials.
The multiple fast track phases and the critical working environment of this facility required the development of a custom, creative and flexible mechanical, electrical and plumbing commissioning program. Extensive research was done for the plan layout and aggressive timelines were set. The final product included input from the subcontractors who were required to perform all aspects of the plan, as well as the owner who would ultimately accept and utilize the final product and services.
The commissioning program included a detailed schedule for the completion of each phase, system, equipment, owner training and demonstration. Completed early in the process, the program was executed in a timely manner for each system and phase of the project. Full understanding of the systems and operational acceptance by the MaxMedia facility engineers were key to this process. By involving these MaxMedia personnel early on, McCarthy was able to customize the commissioning and training program to best meet their needs.
Due to the various phases of the project and existing conditions, the commissioning of the systems presented a unique challenge. Because this work required tying into existing utilities and life safety systems, such as fire alarms and emergency lighting, while portions of the facility were already occupied, most of the commissioning work was completed on the weekends and evenings. Additionally, all tie-ins were performed under “critical work environment conditions and limitations, so planning was of the utmost importance in order to eliminate facility shut downs, which would have been disastrous to MaxMedia`s production commitments to supply its customers. One method McCarthy used to demonstrate functionality and test the sequence of operation in the early phases was to create phantom loads since an actual load wasn`t available yet.
To demonstrate the complexity and success of this commissioning program, the installation of the temporary mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the first 7,000-square-foot cleanroom in Building A, which houses the pilot line, was completed in only three months. This was accomplished by installing complete temporary central plant services. These services included the following systems: cooling and hot water, high purity deionized water, chemical treatment, and process and air distribution. In addition to completing the start-up, testing, commissioning and certifications of this facility in this short timeframe, the cleanroom certification exceeded the classification by one level. The significance of this accomplishment is that in qualifying a Class 10 area as Class 1, the room is 100 times cleaner. McCarthy was able to attain the next level of classification for Max Media`s first facility and others that followed because of McCarthy`s strict cleanroom protocol that the firm developed. The protocol included classroom training, cleanroom protocol officers to enforce clean requirements and manage the continuous inspection of material equipment entering the clean space, and a cleaning process that included wipe downs in staging areas before entering each clean area.
Meeting an aggressive schedule
McCarthy achieved every major milestone established by the owner by anticipating problems through bimonthly owner updates; weekly in-house updates; weekly updates of the complete CPM schedule; and daily updates with the mechanical/ process piping, electrical, and cleanroom subcontractors. “Although we faced several obstacles that could have impacted the schedule, through constant communication and planning, everything was an ticipated,” said McCarthy project superintendent Chris Palermo.
Due to the fast-track nature of the project, an abundance of incoming and outgoing correspondence was required. Although construction began with only 60 percent of the design completed, the remainder of the project documentation was built from requests for information, meeting min utes, tele com reports,architect design changes and value engineering de signs. The construction documents changed at such a rapid pace that it was a sole staff member`s responsibility to up date, post and distribute all documentation.
Even though crews on the job site were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, costs were kept under control by establishing shifts. The proper coordination of the schedule resulted in a substantial on-time completion of the project within 10 months. This meant that MaxMedia was able to go from design concept to delivering their first product to a customer in exactly one year and one day.
“Due in large part to McCarthy and its subcontractors, this project exceeded every one`s expectations in terms of budget and quality,” says Flachbart of MaxMedia. “Most importantly, the product yields on our first line are better than ever, and we are continuing to meet our production goals.”
This article was contributed by McCarthy. For more information on the company`s projects, check out their Web site at http://www. mccarthy.com or call (314) 968-3300. For infor mation on MaxMedia California (MMC Technology), contact Richard Flachbart at (408) 232-8600.
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From the polishing area, the product enters this Class 10,000 cleanroom with ducted HEPA filters. Here the product is washed and textured.
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Above, Using the design/build method, McCarthy constructed the pH neutralization system to service MMC Technology`s main production lines. When this system was operational, McCarthy then completed the nickel treatment system to handle waste from the plating line.
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Left, The product is tested and certified for reliability before shipping in this Class 100 cleanroom. McCarthy constructed this cleanroom with a 100 percent ULPA filter plenum ceiling and raised access flooring.
Key facts
Designer: Keller & Gannon (San Francisco, CA)
Builder: McCarthy (St. Louis, MO)
Size of facility: 137,600 square feet, of which 75,000 square feet is cleanroom space
Purpose of facility: To develop new technologies for disk manufacturing
MMC Technology
MMC Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Electronics America, is a California-based venture that develops and manufactures media for the hard disk drive industry. MMC`s focus is on advanced technology at highly competitive cost. MMC is leveraging low-cost, environmentally preferred processes, including laser texture, new substrate materials and advanced magnetic and tribological approaches to disk design as well as the latest process tooling and state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D facilities.