CLEANLINESS IN THE SUBMICROMETER AND ATOMIC PER CENT RANGE

In many industry areas new and enhanced products lead to very high cleanliness specifications. Due to changed manufacturing, joining and coating technologies and more stringent regulatory specifications, there are stricter requirements for particulate and film-type part cleanliness. To reach these values in series production in a process-reliable and efficient way, not only cleaning and drying processes meeting demands and suited system technology but also software implementation and cleaning environment must be adapted accordingly.

- Rahul Kamat

Whether production equipment for the semi-inductor industry, biotechnology, laser and sensor technology, devices for measuring and analysis technology, components for accumulators and fuel cells, optical systems or metal cutting tools, the requirements for performance and reliability are extremely high. This not only leads to high demands in terms of production precision of the parts but also their cleanliness. For medical technology products such as implants, instruments, cannulae and endoscopes, particulate and filmtype contamination from manufacturing processes is an essential criterion due to regulatory specifications. Moreover, there is a trend for miniaturisation and functional integration with ever smaller and more complex components. These developments entail that particulate cleanliness specifications in the micrometre and even nanometer ranges, as well as very stringent requirements regarding residual thin-film contamination, must be met by more and more industry sectors. Depending on components and/ or applications, outgassing rates for organic substances and residual moisture may also have to be met, as well as limit values down to the atomic per cent range when it comes to surface analyses for residues of prohibited substances. For the production of these miniaturized components, there is also an evolution towards ever-larger integrated manufacturing modules. This also creates new challenges for the cleaning processes and the mechanical systems required to implement them.