You might be thinking, “what is a clean room?” or maybe you’re thinking, “I don’t care about them so I’m willing to take that bet..” Well imagine this:
You just plunked down $20, $30 or $40 for your new screen protector on your phone. You carefully clean the screen, carefully remove the liner and with laser precision, place the protector perfectly centered on your phone. Carefully you start pushing out all the air bubbles, but one won’t budge. Ugh. It’s a piece of dust and now you have a fisheye. But how, you cleaned the phone perfectly before applying. How could this happen? Because you were doing this in your house which is roughly a Class 1,000,000 clean room.
Class 100, Class 1000, Class 10,000. What does a clean room rating mean? Technically it’s a measure of the number of particles floating through the air that are greater than 0.5 microns per cubic foot of air. For reference, typical outside air is class 35,000,000 and office air is class 1,000,000. Well, those little specs of dust so small they cannot be seen suddenly become big fisheyes when we laminate two pieces of clear material together.
A clean room may be defined as any contained space with a controlled environment to manage airborne particles, vapors, microbes, etc. The level or “Class” is determined by needs. For Xymox manufacturing, particulate control is the essential attribute. A Class 1,000 clean room has approximately 1000 times fewer airborne particles compared to room air as defined by ISO 14644-1 Cleanroom Standards or FED STD 209E.
High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are used to trap particles 0.3 microns in size and larger. Our system uses 14 ceiling mounted HEPA filters to create a positive air pressure in the space. The entire perimeter of the clean room at floor level is open slightly, allowing the room to continuously add newly filtered air, and preventing unfiltered air from entering the space.
Additionally, strict controls on attire and access, as well as the types of materials allowed into the clean room are enforced. Personnel working in the clean room undergo training to help maintain the cleanest possible environment.
Xymox Technologies added additional clean room capabilities to improve production of sensitive printed electronic and optical components. Our new clean room manufacturing area is is certified under ISO 14644-1 as an ISO 6 (Class 1,000) clean room, with 320 square feet of production area. All of this means Xymox Technologies has the capability to assemble critical optical and printed electronic components with minimal defects due to particulate contamination.
So, did you live with your imperfect screen protector or spend $20 for a new one and try again?
When it comes to your product, perfection is worth the price.