Clean, cleaner, Adlershof
A number of the most modern clean rooms in the region at the Centre for Materials and Microsystems
If electronic circuitry and systems are to operate reliably, greatest care must be taken in the production process. They are manufactured in special clean rooms that can be accessed only through an airlock. The air in the room is filtered. The employees wear full body suits. “Our production of electronic componentry and systems is now moving in the micro- and nanometre range,” explained Klaus-Dieter Lang, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM. “Here, a dust particle can have a huge effect on functionality and production yield.” Foreign particles can cause structural defects – and even electrical malfunctions in circuitry. “On this minute scale, even a grain of dust can cause track breaks and hence total system failure,” he explained.
The clean rooms at the IZM are currently working on a camera for medical applications that is only one millimetre in size. What is so special is that the entire camera is manufactured in the clean room. The Director of the Fraunhofer IZM is observing this trend in the whole field of microsystems engineering: “There is a growing tendency towards manufacturing whole multifunctional systems in clean rooms, and not just single components,” concludes Lang.
In Adlershof, these facilities are provided at the Centre for Materials and Microsystems (CMM), where twelve of the most modern clean rooms in Berlin-Brandenburg can be leased. These could be used to manufacture sensors, and also optical and laser components are conceivable.
ISO Class 8
The clean rooms of ISO Class 8 adjoin each other in a hall and range from 32 to 65 square metres. They are surrounded by a corridor that leads to each of the modules. Changing rooms and the airlock are located at a central entrance that all employees must pass before they can enter the clean rooms. “Some areas are isolated behind a second airlock,” explained CMM Director Jörg Israel. “With additional filters, they can be upgraded to ISO Class 6.” Between each of the modules, in so called “grey rooms” that do not fall in the clean room standard, there is an additional space of three metres for equipment that is not suitable for clean room use. It can be operated by the employees while they are still in the clean room.
Adlershof scores well, when it comes to clean rooms facilities. This would reduce considerably the investment and operating costs of many production processes.
By Mirko Heinemann for Adlershof Special
More information on the Centre for Materials and Microsystems