Particle Control Methods: II

Abstract

The most important purpose of clean-room garments is that they protect wafers and processing equipment from particles emitted by clean-room personnel. These particles may be particles from the workers' bodies, mostly hair and skin flakes, or from their clothes and shoes. This chapter discusses the requirements for clean-room garments related to particle performance. It describes the types of garments currently used in clean rooms, followed by a discussion of ways to measure their particle performance. Woven garments suitable for clean-room use are made and sewn with continuous filament synthetic threads. Gloves are a special type of clean-room garment because a person's hands touch objects that the rest of the body normally does not. Hands cause contamination on products because they shed skin cells and bacteria, because they carry contamination from previous contacts, and because they leave oil and salt residues on surfaces they contact. Finally, the chapter outlines the present state-of-the-art and future requirements for clean-room garments.