Advances in monitoring methods for airborne particles

The microelectronics industry is heavily tasked with minimizing contaminates at all steps of the manufacturing process. Particles are generated by physical and/or chemical fragmentation from a mothersource. The tools and macrovolumes of chemicals used for processing, the environment surrounding the process, and the circuits themselves are all potential particle sources. A first step in eliminating these contaminants is to identify their source. Elemental analysis of the particles often proves useful toward this goal, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) is a commonly used technique. However, the large variety of source materials and process induced changes in the particles often make it difficult to discern if the particles are from a common source.Ordination is commonly used in ecology to understand community relationships. This technique usespair-wise measures of similarity. Separation of the data set is based on discrimination functions. Theend product is a spatial representation of the data with the distance between points equaling the degree of dissimilarity.

Download Full-text

RESEARCH: Dry Heat Processing of Single-Use Respirators and Surgical Masks

Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology ◽

10.2345/0899-8205-54.6.410 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 54 (6) ◽

pp. 410-416

Author(s):

Joyce M. Hansen ◽

Scott Weiss ◽

Terra A. Kremer ◽

Myrelis Aguilar ◽

Gerald McDonnell

Keyword(s):

Microbial Contamination ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

High Volume ◽

Airborne Particles ◽

Heat Processing ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Facilities ◽

Dry Heat ◽

Surgical Masks ◽

Single Use

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has challenged healthcare providers in maintaining the supply of critical personal protective equipment, including single-use respirators and surgical masks. Single-use respirators and surgical masks can reduce risks from the inhalation of airborne particles and microbial contamination. The recent high-volume demand for single-use respirators and surgical masks has resulted in many healthcare facilities considering processing to address critical shortages. The dry heat process of 80°C (176°F) for two hours (120 min) has been confirmed to be an appropriate method for single-use respirator and surgical mask processing.

Download Full-text