Issue

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. lawmakers and federal officials are scrambling to tighten controls on imported bulk drugs after learning that an alarmingly large number of potentially dangerous counterfeits are making their way across U.S. borders.

Cleanroom gowning requirements

China plans pharm crackdown; McCarthy begins expansion for Genentech; Jacobs/Bovis Lend Lease selected for biotech campus; ISP adds polymerization reactor and spray dryer ...

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA—The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) is considering a proposed test method for determining the wiping efficiency, wet particle removal and contaminant contribution of nonwoven fabrics used in cleanrooms.

WASHINGTON, DC—A recent survey conducted by the Government Accountability Project (GAP) of 451 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors indicates that Americans are increasingly at risk of eating meat and poultry tainted with feces and metal shards.

NICEVILLE, FL/VALENCIA, CA—Honeywell's Commercial Air Products business (Niceville) and Air Purification Technologies LLC (Valencia) are teaming up to form what they hope will be the leading competitor in the indoor air quality market.

SAN JOSE, CA—After nearly a year-long selection process that was at times criticized for not happening fast enough, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA; San Jose, CA) has named six experts ...

AUSTIN, TX—To paraphrase Bob Dylan, you don't need an analyst to tell which way the market grows.

Knowledge is power: An overused phrase, yet it was the mantra for 2000. One could even say that this simple line is literally, fundamentally, driving the worldwide semiconductor market; and, for the time being, keeping quite a few members of the cleanroom industry in a consummate state of bliss.

Federal agencies are stepping up to improve the quality of life, and those efforts all have one thing in common: Contamination control. But the approach seems rather unbalanced.

This month marks the last of my monthly [Cleanroom Standards] columns.

Clean plastic process; Cleanroom sliding door; Non- and low-particle-emitting material ...

This is the last in a series of columns outlining the new ISO Global Cleanroom Standards. This month we cover the newest, probably the most complex and perhaps the most far-reaching subject—molecular contamination.

Particle properties known as the "relaxation time" and the "stopping distance" were defined in last month's column. These definitions will be used here in defining a dimensionless number called the Stokes number (Stk).

Some of you out there need to try harder. I have spent the last week reviewing MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for cytotoxic drugs and give most of the pharmaceutical industry a failing grade on the quality of information contained in their MSDS documents.

In the past five years, changes to cleanroom garments and the materials used to construct them have followed a simple formula: Make steady improvements on what's available.

2000 CleanRooms Editorial Index

It was a three-level, 630,000-square-foot building that was commissioned by IBM Corp. in 1985 and operated as a semiconductor fab until 1993, when it was unplugged and mothballed.

Cleanliness and durability, two qualities in demand for today's high-end components, electronic assemblies and medical equipment, are equally important aspects of cleanroom swabs.

Digital thermometer from COX Recorders
Upland, CA; Pressure transducer from Setra Systems Inc.
Boxborough, MA; Thermally conductive tape from 3M Bonding Systems Division
St. Paul, MN; Curing oven from Despatch Industries
Minneapolis, MN ...