For more than 20 years, semiconductor manufacturer Agere Technologies has relied on Nilfisk-Advance America's high-efficiency vacuum cleaners to safeguard its integrated circuit chips from costly contamination. The vacuums are used to collect particles -- such as aluminum sputter and broken wafer pieces -- within process chambers, both during and after alcohol wipe-down. The chambers are located in Agere's ISO 4 (Class 10) cleanrooms, which also include smaller ISO 3 (Class 1) areas.
Chip contamination can be devastating to the company's bottom line, says Joe Rauchut, recently retired from the technical staff at Agere's Allentown, PA facility. "All it takes is one metallic particle in the furnace or chemical bath to ruin an entire batch of chips. That's why the vacuums are so critical -- they help us stop contamination before chips even make it out of the process chamber."
Agere's Allentown facility currently uses the Nilfisk GM 80CR -- a compact, portable vacuum designed and packaged specifically for use in cleanrooms -- as well as several other Nilfisk models. In total, 40 Nilfisk vacuums are in use at the facility.
Contamination-control specialists can ensure product purity and employee safety with the GM 80CR's advanced four-stage filtration system, which captures 99.999% of all ultrafine powders and debris, down to and including 0.12 microns. An ULPA exhaust filter further ensures that all collected particles are retained in the vacuum for absolute levels of purity. Equipped with ESD-capable accessories and an interference-suppressed motor, the GM 80CR meets cleanroom standards up to and including ISO 4 (Class 10).
"We chose a portable vacuum because the central system presented too many safety and convenience issues," said Rauchut. "The large central vacuum hose, in particular, created a twofold problem: where to store it, and how to keep workers from tripping over it.
"Plus, the ports we had to plug into to access the central system weren't always located in convenient spots. With the portable GM 80CR vacs we can just pick up and go."
