Issue

The CleanRooms Contamination Control Technology (CCT) Conference and Exhibition 2006 will take place March 15-16 in Boston.

News snippets from the world of contamination control

A recent announcement from SEMATECH (www.sematech.org) about what are known as mid-bandgap transistors may mean looming contamination-control challenges for semiconductor cleanrooms.

A 2,600-square-foot cleanroom, previously occupied by Infineon, is the new site of research and development of emerging wafer-lithography technologies being conducted by Fraunhofer Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies.

Wyeth’s (www.wyeth.com) new 1.2-million-square-foot campus in Dublin, Ireland, believed to be one of the world’s largest biotechnology production facilities, is poised to produce advanced pharmaceutical technologies ranging from arthritis treatments to an antibiotic to fight serious skin and intra-abdominal hospital-acquired infections.

The Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov) has proposed a rule for cGMPs of radioactive drug treatments, and has issued a final rule on safeguarding food packaging as a deterrent to bioterrorism.

After only a two-month stint as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov), Lester M. Crawford submitted his resignation on Sept. 23, reportedly via an internal e-mail to FDA staff.

A growing interest in plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs), where crop plants become “factories” that manufacture therapeutic proteins extracted and used as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in many medicines, is generating a new round of enthusiasm-and controversy.

Cleanroom operators around the world will spend close to $1 billion for gloves this year.

Recently an acquaintance of mine sent me a series of spectacular photographs of hurricane Katrina as it edged along its somewhat indiscriminate yet determined route, making landfall at several locations along the way.

The principal purpose of testing cleanrooms and clean zones is to determine operational performance.

Although it may not be immediately apparent to everyone, contamination control has certainly been in the news a lot recently.

From the time of Swiss watchmakers, who used bell jars to prevent dust from falling on their timepieces, to the development of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters for atomic energy production, manufacturers have worked to limit airborne contamination in their production environments.

Semiconductor manufacturing and cleanroom use have been tightly coupled since the earliest days; today, semiconductor cleanrooms continue to drive trends and technology.

Involve your manufacturing team in the planning process, sweat the details, and get smart about how your cleanroom functions

Each month, Cleanrooms brings you a collection of the latest product innovations in the contamination-control industry.

Comfort is important to contamination-control professionals confined to the cleanroom for extended periods. Equally important, however, is ensuring that cleanroom furniture conform to cleanliness requirements, so as not to jeopardize the integrity of the critical environment. Here is a selection of cleanroom furniture that does just that.