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Following International Sematech's recent endorsement, the semiconductor industry may embark on a wet—but insiders hope not wild—ride down the road toward immersion lithography.

A final guidance on the use of electronic records and signatures as well as four draft documents on aseptic processing, resolving disputes over scientific and technical issues, protocols and process analytical technology are the latest accomplishments in the Food and Drug Administration's initiative, Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) for the 21st Century: A Risk Based Approach.

Production was down for only 24 hours at Cold Springs, an international quartz crystal sensor and thin film-coating manufacturer, while a modular cleanroom manufactured by SBB Inc. was relocated to a new, larger facility.

After a "run-in" period, Ibsen Photonics A/S says the manufacturing process of its holographic phase mask line has been successfully relocated from an ISO Class 5 to a newly built 14,000 square-foot ISO Class 4 cleanroom facility in this Danish community, located 13 miles from Copenhagen.

Whether it's a refresher course in contamination control practices or a technical session on containment in high potent compound processing, CleanRooms Puerto Rico 2003 will be a forum where end users can gain an edge in the ever-changing life sciences world.

For the first time since March, North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers in July saw an uptick in billings and new orders, resulting in their best book-to-bill ratio since the cold dark days of February.

Decontamination and decommissioning were the hot topics of discussion at the recently concluded annual conferences and exposition of the American Glovebox Society (AGS) held in San Antonio, Texas.

With all of the unfolding contamination control guidelines and cleanroom technology adaptation in the life sciences the life sciences and semiconductor markets, it's easy to overlook some of the ground-breaking initiatives that the world's automakers and auto parts producers are pushing forward in an effort to differentiate themselves in one of the world's most competitive markets.

Last month, we discussed filters and how they work. We reviewed the three primary filtration mechanisms—interception, impaction and diffusion. We also briefly described sieving (the mechanism represented by a fly against a window screen) as a special case of interception.

Naysayers may believe the Food and Drug Administration's latest plans to revamp current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) are way too ambitious, but to the believers, it may just be a dream come true that promises to catapult life sciences into the future.

Relative humidity is one of the environmental conditions usually specified for cleanroom operations. Relative humidity in a semiconductor cleanroom is typically controlled to a target value somewhere within the 30 to 50 percent range, and with tolerances as narrow as ± 1 percent for some areas, such as photolithography—or even less for deep ultraviolet processing (DUV)—and relaxing to ± 5 percent in other areas.

Most people know that static electricity can present risks and cause problems in a variety of industrial situations. The electronics industry is particularly susceptible because of the low energy and low voltages at which damage can occur.

As the semiconductor manufacturing industry becomes increasingly competitive under the current economic conditions, chip manufacturers continue to look for new ways to maintain a sharp, competitive edge.

There are likely a million contamination control stories in Motor City, and this month, CleanRooms brings you three.

CleanRooms West 2003—held September 22-24 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.—gave contamination control professionals the chance to get a first-hand look at products and services designed to improve cleanroom practices.

Static charge build-up can ignite combustibles, shock personnel and destroy sensitive components. It also attracts dirt, dust and other contaminants that can worsen processing problems and increase product scrap.