Issue



Table of Contents

Solid State Technology

Year 2000
Issue 9

NEWS

News


USDA funds nucleic acid test for Salmonella contamination detection

DENVER—Xtrana Inc., a developer of nucleic acid-based technologies, has received a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a test to detect Salmonella contamination in food.


News


Executive Forum opens door to the future

PORTLAND, OR—Cleanroom executives will have a rare opportunity to look into a crystal ball at CleanRooms West 2000 (Portland, OR) and learn about markets that will need contamination control technology in the future.


News


Tuesday: More patents, please

PORTLAND, OR—Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day, but Tuesday is patent day. And if one were to visit to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site and do a search for "cleanrooms," it would then be crystal clear that masterminds will be forever changing the face of contamination control.


News


Pushing Moore's Law with minienvironments

PORTLAND, OR—MINIENVIRONments are touted as the contamination control technology for 300-mm wafer manufacturing. But will minienvironments be able to keep up with future chip technology advances as forecasted in Moore's Law ....


Particles


Particles

CleanRooms West 2000 takes place October 2-4; Honeywell awards MEMS project to Luwa Lepco; CR engineering business launched; PHOTO Flomerics exec joins IEEE board; Network Photonics more than triples in size ...


News


Gloveboxes key to CST

MIAMI—Purified microenvironments, a division of Germ Free Laboratories Inc., has played a key role in helping the U.S. government protect the domestic population against any natural or man-made disaster involving biological or chemical agents.


News


FDA sets sights on sterile products standard

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has begun to compile public comments on the concept paper Drug Products That Present Demonstrable Difficulties for Compounding Because of Reasons of Safety or Effectiveness in an effort to establish and regulate pharmacy practices.


News


ASTM standard to keep wipers clean

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA—A soon-to-be released standard may help cleanrooms stay clean. E2090 from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), which has been approved by the ASTM E21 committee, specifies new standards for wiper testing.


News


DuPont to put Lycra to new use

CARLSBAD, CA—Question: What do you get when you team a polyurethane glove manufacturer with an elastane maker? Answer: The makings of what both companies believe will be the next generation of cleanroom gloves.


News


Food processors acquire taste for electronic pasteurization

SAN DIEGO—Titan Corp.'s electronic pasteurization technology continues to make the food-processing industry salivate. Several major food processors, frozen appetizer maker Anchor Food Products (Appleton, WI) being the latest, have agreed to research and use Titan's patented technology.


DEPARTMENTS

Viewpoint


When sick, avoid the hospital

The injury triggered numerous complications with his heart and diabetic condition, and landed him in the hospital.


Viewpoint


Lessons to exchange

I would love to romanticize my recent journey to Singapore to attend CleanRooms Asia 2000 by putting forth a great tale of enlightenment or a list of searing, yet simple truths gained about the market and the future of contamination control.


Inventors Corner


Inventor's Corner

Electrically charged filter media from Ronald P. Rohrbach, Gordon W. Jones, Peter D. Unger, Daniel E. Bause, Lixin Xue, Russell A. Dondero, of Allied Signal, Inc. (Morristown, NJ); Particle-measuring device from Jae Kang Jeon, Joung Sun Lee, Jae Heung Choi and Dong Young Kim, Samsung Electronics Co. (Suwon, Korea); Cleanroom ceiling from Inventor: Peter Jeanseau, HEPA Corp. (Anaheim, CA) ...


FEATURES

Contamination And Airflo


Contamination and airflow distributions in a non-unidirectional airflow cleanroom

The airflow characteristics in a non-unidirectional flow cleanroom are complex, compared with a unidirectional flow cleanroom. The large recirculation zone and strong turbulent behavior are typical airflow characteristics in non-unidirectional cleanrooms


Special Report


Bulking up specialty gas delivery

In two decades of supplying gases to semiconductor fabs worldwide, major gas suppliers have built a wide variety of delivery systems, pipeline networks and standalone on-site supply systems. For bulk gas systems, semiconductor manufacturers may opt for ...


Features


Quantitative monitors minimize cost impact of ESD events on GMR heads

ESD-conscious companies spend millions of dollars on ESD-protective measures such as ionizers, static-dissipative floors and clothing, grounding, wrist-straps, static-voltage monitors and personnel training.


COLUMNS

Cleanroom Standards


Peopleless cleanrooms

Perhaps the most exciting and original activity of the ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC209 "Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments" has been the creation of an original standard.


Electronics



My column in the November 1999 issue (p. 8), entitled "Fickle particles," alluded to what I found to be surprising particle behavior.


Life Sciences


Validated methods of PPE decontamination

Initial safety testing of new pharmaceutical compounds cannot, in most cases, generate enough data to determine the "no effect level" in humans. Data concerning the long-term effects of exposure to a drug substance is not available for ...


PRODUCTS

Product Comparator


Softwalls make for quick and easy cleanrooms

Softwall cleanrooms provide a contamination-controlled environment with built-in flexibility at relatively low cost. For those who anticipate changing cleanroom requirements, these products represent a viable alternative to dedicating a fixed-hardwall-cleanroom space.


New Products


New Products

CO2 monitor from CEA Instruments Inc., Emerson, NJ; Framing components from Bosch Automation Products, Buchanan, MI; Carbon filter from FARR Company, El Segundo, CA; Electronic time delay unit from Scientific Technologies Inc., Fremont, CA ...