Unveiling sources of contamination: PolyCHECK for Streamlined Contamination Identification in Cleanrooms

Introduction

Maintaining pristine production environments is crucial in cleanrooms across various industries. However, traditional surface sampling methods using tape or SEM stubs often fall short. They struggle to collect enough contamination, especially organic materials like fibers, for definitive identification. This creates a significant challenge:

Limited Identification: The inability to pinpoint the source of organic contamination hinders corrective and preventive actions, potentially leading to recurring issues.

Lab Dependence: Traditional methods often require lab analysis by trained personnel, significantly extending investigation timelines. This creates production bottlenecks and delays corrective action.

Introducing PolyCHECK: A Revolutionary Sampling Solution

PolyCHECK® is an ideal cleaning validation and failure analysis tool for particle contamination as it enables quality engineers to rapidly sample equipment surfaces to recover foreign particles in ISO 1-8 Cleanrooms.

PolyCHECK® attracts and holds particle contamination on the fabric surface for easy transfer to SEM stubs and analysis via Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray dispersion(SEM/EDX) and Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).

PolyCHECK® is constructed with cleanroom-grade polyester fabric designed to attract and hold contamination after dry wiping surfaces. The ability to attract and retain particulate contamination from large equipment surfaces allows quality engineers and failure analysis labs to identify and eliminate contamination sources. PolyCHECK® is designed to enable SEM/EDX technicians to transfer collected contamination to SEM stubs for further analysis. PolyCHECK®, combined with Foamtec’s material science lab, allows customers to perform risk assessments for surface contamination on cleanroom work surfaces and process equipment.

Foamtec’s PolyCHECK offers a groundbreaking solution for cleanroom surface sampling. This innovative tool addresses the limitations of traditional methods:

• Statistically Significant Sampling: PolyCHECK is designed to capture significantly higher particles than tape or SEM stubs, increasing the likelihood of collecting enough material for accurate identification.
• Enhanced Organic Material Detection: PolyCHECK’s foam composition is optimized to capture organic particles, especially fibers, which are often missed by traditional methods.
• Streamlined Analysis: PolyCHECK samples can be readily analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. This allows for faster identification of the root cause of contamination, enabling quicker corrective action.