Clean Room

A clean room is a specialized environment designed to maintain extremely low levels of pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, and chemical vapors. This controlled environment is crucial in both manufacturing and scientific research settings where even minute levels of contamination can have significant adverse effects.

The primary purpose of a clean room is to prevent contamination of products or experiments that are highly sensitive to environmental pollutants. These environments are characterized by their stringent air filtration systems, which include high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) or ultra-low penetration air (ULPA) filters to remove particles from the air. Clean rooms are also typically equipped with measures to control other environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and air pressure.

Clean rooms are extensively used in industries and fields where purity and cleanliness are paramount—for instance, in the semiconductor and electronics industry, where even microscopic dust particles can impair the functionality of microchips and circuits. They are also critical in pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors for the production of sterile products. Additionally, clean rooms are essential in scientific research, particularly in fields like nanotechnology and materials science, where experiments can be highly sensitive to environmental contaminants.

The effectiveness of a clean room is measured in terms of the number of particles per cubic meter at a specified particle size. The International Standards Organization (ISO) provides a classification system (ISO 14644-1) to categorize the cleanliness level of these rooms. Maintaining the integrity of a clean room involves not only the right equipment and filters but also strict protocols for personnel behavior, including specialized clothing to prevent human-borne contamination.