CLEAN ROOM – 21029

A clean room is a chamber specially designed and operated to minimize airborne contaminants. In some industries it is important that dust, dirt, bacteria, and other particulates be kept to an absolute minimum. A good example is the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs) for electronic and computer systems. Robots have a considerable advantage over people in these environments.

If certain precautions are observed, the environment in a room can be kept “clean” while allowing humans in. People who enter such a room must first put on airtight suits, gloves, and boots. A room that only robots enter, not people, can always be just a little bit cleaner.

The contamination in a clean room is measured in terms of the number of particles of a certain size in 1 liter (1000 cubic centimeters) of air. Alternatively, the cubic foot is used as the standard unit of volume.