Clean Room Technology

An increase in the reliance of businesses, institutions and individuals on the saved data for their day-to-day functioning is guiding the world economy in a direction where all the aspects of production and consumption will be electronically controlled. In such a scenario, the consequences of a major data loss incident may prove to be disastrous.

Considering the given context, the role of data recovery companies becomes vital in sustaining and supporting the world economy. However, in today’s competitive environment, only those data recovery companies will survive who have the access to proper infrastructural facilities such as a clean room.

What is a Clean Room?

A clean room is a specially designed work space where environmental parameters such as the quality of air, humidity and temperature are technically controlled and manipulated to protect sensitive equipment, samples, apparatus and gadgets from contamination. The size of a clean room often depends upon the needs of a particular organization which owns it. A clean room may be as small as an office cubicle or may be large enough to contain the entire manufacturing facilities. Thus, clean rooms come in all shapes and sizes and may be permanent, modular or portable, depending upon the requirements of the companies who put them in place.

When were Clean Rooms Invented?

Clean rooms were first of all invented in the early 60s, when they were needed to develop high precision technology to be used in the upcoming aerospace industry. Later on, they were used in a variety of other industries, which needed a highly controlled and regulated environment to achieve their objectives.

Where are Clean Rooms Needed?

Clean rooms are exclusively used for manufacturing and R&D in high precision industries like bio-technology, nano-fabrication, space satellites, semiconductors, sterile medical devices, computer hardware, optics, silicon chips and microprocessors. A clean room happens to be 10,000 times cleaner than an operation theatre in any reputed medical facility.

How the Air inside a Clean Room is Kept Dust-free

The environment inside a clean room is kept dust-free and well-regulated by following an effective contamination control programme. The air inside a clean room is repeatedly filtered with the help of a variety of filters, so as to remove particulate impurities that can jeopardize the production of highly sensitive technologies. The HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters used inside a clean room are capable of filtering particles as small as 0.3 microns, with optimum efficiency.

Appropriate precautions are taken while designing and manufacturing the clean rooms to maintain a laminar air flow so as to avoid turbulence. People working inside a clean room wear special gloves, face masks, head covers and bunny suits to prevent contamination. Physical behaviour and attitude of the staff operating inside a clean room are highly disciplined to control particulate contamination and turbulence. The commodities, stationery, furniture and gadgets used inside a clean room are of specified quality. The clean rooms are cleaned and maintained by certified contractors who specialize in the requisite technology and procedure needed to sanitize a clean room.

How are Clean Rooms Classified?

Clean rooms are classified as per the number and size of particles allowed per unit volume of air. The clean rooms were first classified in the US in 1963. The Federal Standard 209 proved to be a great success the world over. It classifies clean rooms into six categories ranging from Class 1 to Class 100,000. A Class 100 clean room contains no more than 100 particles of 0.5 microns or more per cubic foot of air. In 1999 UK came out with British Standard 5295. The first ISO standard called ISO 14644-I was published in 1999.

Role of Clean Room in Data Recovery Business

Data recovery is a highly competitive field and a clean room is an integral and indispensable constituent of any reputed data recovery company. Many digital media like hard disks are extremely sensitive to dust. Even a single particle landing between the read/ write head and a platter could cause the disk to crash. A clean room provides an ideal environment for opening, operating and repairing such devices.

If a data recovery company has its own clean room, it shows that the particular firm is serious about its work and has made ample investments in securing, maintaing and sustaining its critical infrastructure to ensure a high success rate.