Cleanroom technology plays a crucial role in electronics, as the control of particles and contamination in the air and the production environment enables the manufacture of high-precision and defect-free components. But modern cleanroom technology is also essential for other production processes.
The chip workers, on the other hand, have to squeeze into full-body overalls with masks and cleanroom shoes shift after shift and have to work for many hours under almost eternal artificial light. However, many of today's technology sectors are absolutely dependent on such particularly sterile locations: not only microelectronics manufacturers, but also sensor technology companies, pharmaceutical and biotech companies and many others.
The industries that rely on cleanrooms include
- Semiconductor industry: fabs manufacture microchips and other electronic components that turn into extremely expensive rejects due to even the smallest impurities during production.
- Pharmaceuticals industry: They use cleanrooms to produce sterile drugs, vaccines and medical devices that meet the highest quality and safety standards.
- Optics industry: Lenses, mirrors and other optical components are manufactured in cleanrooms to minimize distortions and reflections.
- Medical technology: Implants, pacemakers and other medical devices require an extremely clean production environment.
- Space industry: Satellites and spacecraft are produced under cleanroom conditions to ensure that they function reliably in space.
- Watch industry: Some high-precision watch mechanisms are assembled in cleanrooms to ensure a long service life and maximum accuracy.
Cleanrooms are classified according to their cleanliness class, which indicates the maximum number of dust or soot particles, flakes or other foreign particles per cubic meter of air. The lower the number of particles, the higher the cleanliness class. The most common classifications are
- ISO class 1-9: The international standard ISO 14644-1 defines nine cleanliness classes. Class 1, which is used for the manufacture of high-precision products such as microchips, is the cleanest: In a cleanroom of this class, there must be a maximum of ten particles with a size of 0.1 µm in every cubic meter of air.
- GMP classes A-D: GMP stands for 'Good Manufacturing Practice'. A European Union guideline defines the four classes from A to D for the pharmaceutical industry, which correspond to the ISO classes.
Trend towards smart and modular cleanrooms
Cleanroom technology is constantly evolving. Recent trends include smart cleanrooms: the use of IoT sensors and 'artificial intelligence' means that the 'weather', production processes and maintenance intervals can now be controlled far more precisely and flexibly than before. Some of these 'intelligent' cleanrooms already react independently to changes. Modular cleanrooms' are also on the rise: Modular systems allow flexible adaptation to changing production requirements and faster commissioning. This concept saves resources and can also stretch or streamline investments depending on market developments. Last but not least, sustainability and energy efficiency are also playing an increasingly important role.
View into the clean room of the SAW COMPONENTS component factory (Image: Heiko Weckbrodt)
Almost every region of the world has its own set of regulations
In addition, there are new rules and standards, some of which are developed by the industry itself, while others are prescribed by governments or supranational bodies. One example of this is 'Annex 1' to the EU GMP guidelines, which the EU Commission finalized in autumn 2022. It sets out new requirements for cleanrooms in the pharmaceutical industry.
Semiconductor manufacturer Infineon has occasionally used such robots to monitor the 'cleanroom weather' (Image: Infineon)
Market growth of 10% per year is expected
The growing importance of cleanrooms offers companies that manufacture and operate cleanroom equipment considerable economic opportunities: the increasing demand for high-quality electronic, pharmaceutical and medical products is also driving demand for cleanroom equipment. Companies that develop innovative solutions for cleanroom technology can secure a competitive advantage here. Industry observers assume that the German cleanroom market in particular will grow by 10% per year for the foreseeable future.
www.sawcomponents.de, www.infineon.com
