Customized cleanliness suitable cleanrooms and manufacturing equipment

In product development, a number of requirements need to be taken into account when deciding on suitable materials for specific applications. Materials are selected on considering the material properties required. Among other things, the cleanliness suitability of materials can be assessed using the following characteristics: 1. particle emission (assessment of the quantity of particles generated by material combinations when subjected to tribological stress) 2. outgassing (quantitative characterization of the release of molecular substances, e.g. organics) 3. chemical resistance (assessment of resistance to chemicals) 4. biological resistance (determination of the extent to which materials function as a food source for microorganisms) 5. microbicidity (determination of the ability of materials to kill bacteria) 6. cleanability (consideration of extent to which particles and thin film contamination can be removed from material surfaces) Within the scope of the industrial alliance "Cleanroom Suitable Materials (CSM)", procedures have been developed and standardized for the majority of these material characteristics. Test results are administrated in a database and some of these are available to the public.