Issue

Day two and three of the CleanRooms East/PDA SciTech Summit next month will feature a cornucopia of conference sessions that will cover everything from decommissioning controlled environments to determining wiper efficiency and particle removal to an open forum on isolators and gloveboxes.

North America continues to grapple with a food safety problem that turned Europe upside-down nearly three years ago: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a.k.a. mad cow disease.

Like many involved with contamination control, Bob Groves, project leader at International Sematech, worries about what he can't see because he knows what you can't see can kill your product.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) chief scientific research agency have found several promising intestinal bacteria that could protect live chickens from salmonella, campylobacter and other pathogens that cause foodborne illnesses in people who eat poultry.

When it came to finding a new way to handle meticulously patterned wafers without ever touching the somewhat sterile substrates, the Technical University of Munich found inspiration in Aladdin's magic carpet and developed a method of levitating them on a posh pillow of ultrasonic vibration.

The plaintiffs in the cleanroom cancer suit against IBM Corp. have rested their case, and at press time, Big Blue was ready to present a defense that will challenge testimony from former company nurse, Audrey Misako Crouch, who said it was an unwritten policy among the computer giant's medical staff to never utter chemicals as the cause of worker ailments.

Purveyors of paper may potentially be perturbed once Philips Electronics starts mass-producing a slim, book-sized panel that will let consumers download newspapers, magazines and other print media.

While the spin coater has been described as makeshift ingenuity, two plaintiff witnesses in the cleanroom cancer case against IBM Corp. and one semiconductor equipment design engineer say a phonograph-like contraption did everything to preserve the integrity of the disk drives, but nothing to protect the workers from exposure to harmful chemicals.

When you're moving forward in the design for a new construction or retrofit of a biotechnology lab, the key to success is fully understanding the exact usages that lab is going to have during its lifespan.

What happened to that refreshing fuel-efficient zeitgeist that put Honda Civics, Volkswagen Rabbits and Toyota Tercels into millions of American driveways following the fuel crisis of the mid-1970s?

For nearly five years, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) says it has been trying to determine whether there is concrete evidence of increased cancer risk for people working in cleanrooms.

With the introduction of higher insurance premiums and deductibles, high-tech manufacturers are on the prowl for the latest in fire suppression systems

Identification of visible product particles, like protein aggregates, can form the foundation of an effective, in-process contamination control program

Following the California energy crunch, cleanroom operators are rallying to tame the HVAC beaSt. It's time to join the fight

There comes a time when each department is asked to consider outsourcing some segment of its operations; typically, the operation in question is a manufacturing process or facility service that could be performed more efficiently by outside suppliers.

Your wiper purchase is one to take seriously, since microbial and particle contamination can lead to expensive loss of product.

If the future of fan filter units (FFU) is one that includes much greater energy efficiency, then two companies appear to be on the right path.

NEW PRODUCTS SHOWCASE On exhibit, March 8-12, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL