Proper Cleanroom Protocol
Ralph Kraft, RKI/Cleanroomservices, Rochester, N.Y. -- Semiconductor International, 3/1/1998
The intent of a cleanroom facility is to provide an ultraclean manufacturing environment. There are numerous specialty firms that design and build these facilities, and these firms are excellent at what they do. However, after the room is operational for a period of time, quirky things begin to happen. This usually announces itself as low production yield. The first thing that comes to mind is that the room is inefficient, and the witch hunt begins in order to find out what the problems are. This is the wrong approach.
Ralph Kraft is president of
RKI/Cleanroomservices, an agency that provides multi-disciplined services
to its clients so that they can operate their cleanrooms at optimum
efficiency.
Fax: (716) 621-2778
www.cleanroomservices.com
To assure the effectiveness of the cleanroom as a tool, an assortment of programs and protocol must be developed and implemented. These include various training programs for the cleanroom personnel on safety, personal attitude/discipline, general housekeeping, custodial concerns and preventive maintenance programs for all support equipment and all equipment within the cleanroom itself.
| Important Do's and Don'ts of Proper Cleanroom Protocol | ||
| Do's | Don'ts | Why's |
| Only authorized personnel will be allowed within the cleanroom. | NO people allowed that have not been properly trained in what the cleanroom expects them. Cleanroom supervisor has last word. | Cleanroom operations impose many strict and demanding restrictions on the behavior of the individuals. |
| Take into the cleanroom only what is necessary. | NO cosmetics, tobacco products, handkerchiefs, tissues, food, drink, candy, wooden/mechanical pencils/pens, perfumes, colognes, watches, jewelry, cassette players, phones, beepers, gum, combs, hair brushes, cardboard or non-cleanroom-approved paper. | Sources of unwanted contaminates |
| NO blueprints, operations manuals or instruction sheets. | Sources of unwanted contaminates. These items can be on cleanroom-approved paper or laminated. | |
| Only dedicated tools are allowed in the cleanroom. | Do not bring any tools or equipment into the cleanroom from the maintenance shop to work in the cleanroom. | Sources of unwanted contamination |
| Gown in the prescribed manner over your non-frayed/-ripped, low-linting street clothes. | NO bare street clothes allowed within the cleanroom. | The proper cleanroom-approved garmenting protects the product from us and what we bring in. |
| Always make sure that all head/facial hair is covered once inside the cleanroom. | Do not expose any facial/head hair. | Sources of unwanted contaminates |
| When using an air shower, turn a minimum of three times around (slowly) during the "on" cycle time. | Do not open door into cleanroom until "on" cycle is over. | This will get any unwanted contaminants off the cleanroom garment before going into the cleanroom. |
| Keep doors from cleanroom to gowning area closed. | Do not open this door for communications or passing of products back and forth. | Possible cross-contamination |
| Keep cleanroom garment closed at all times while in the cleanroom. | Do not expose any street clothing. | Sources of unwanted contaminates |
| Use pass-thru properly. | Do not use pass-thru for storage (inside or on outside top). | This is not a storage device. |
| Maintain good airflow management. "Product Gets 1st Air" | Do not block the airflow from the hepa filter to the product. Do not congregate. No running. | The product should not get secondary air from the hepa filter. This disrupts the airflow pattern. |
