[labnetwork] Humidification System Design

[Noah Clay]

John,

Echoing everyone else: DI should be used for humidification.  Campus steam loops are full of amines.  Here’s a quick link to an article on what’s used and why you wouldn’t want trace amounts of it in your cleanroom:

http://www.momar.com/blog/12/The_Basics_of_Neutralizing_Amines_in_Steam_Line_Treatment <http://www.momar.com/blog/12/The_Basics_of_Neutralizing_Amines_in_Steam_Line_Treatment>

Also, if you work with sensitive chemically amplified resists, amine contamination decreases resist sensitivity [ref link below, slide #15]. 

http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~peicheng/teaching/EECS598_06_Winter/Lecture%2018%20-%20Mar%2016.pdf <http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~peicheng/teaching/EECS598_06_Winter/Lecture%2018%20-%20Mar%2016.pdf>

I hope this helps.

Best,
Noah Clay

Quattrone Nanofabrication Facility
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA


> On Feb 4, 2015, at 8:12 PM, Iulian Codreanu <codreanu at udel.edu> wrote:
> 
> John,
> 
> It is a terrible idea and I wonder why they would want to do that.  A number of fabs across the country (including mine) decided that RO water was not adequate to generate the cleanroom humidification steam so they use DI water instead. Close attention must be paid to the materials used for the piping carrying the "clean" water, steam generation, steam "transport", steam dispersion, steam condensate collection and drainage. 
> 
> Iulian
> 
> On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 5:22 PM, John Nicholson <thejohnnicholson at gmail.com <mailto:thejohnnicholson at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hello all,
>        We are currently in a design review process for a new class 1000 clean room on campus and the design architects have come up with a scheme that mixes RO steam with the existing building steam (containing softeners and whatever minerals the local city water has) to humidify the clean room. I am of the opinion this is a bad idea. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated as well as references to any design standards (ASHRAE?) you may know of for this type of humidification system.
> 
> Regards,
> John
> 
> -- 
> John Nicholson
> Nanofabrication Laboratories Manager
> MassNanoTech Nanofabrication Facility
> Conte Center for Polymer Research, Rm. B111
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> 120 Governor's Drive
> Amherst,MA 01003-9305
> Phone: 413-545-2772
> Fax: 413-577-0165
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> iulian Codreanu, Ph.D.
> Director of Operations, UD Nanofab
> 163 ISE Lab
> Newark, DE 19716
> 302-831-2784
> http://udnf.udel.edu <http://udnf.udel.edu/>
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