The principle of Clean room design starts from almost 150 years ago when these units were used for bacterial control in hospitals. Today, clean rooms have completed a long way and developed to the modern technology. In earlier day, these clean rooms were designed for fulfilling the requirement of clean environment for industrial manufacturing during 1950s and the same clean rooms are also used for variety of applications in many industries.
A clean room is defined as a place that provides attentively controlled environment that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as airborne microbes, dust, chemical vapors, and aerosol particles. When the air entered in a clean room it is filtered and then continuously circulated through high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) or ultra-low particulate air (ULPA) filters. These filters are used to remove internally generated contaminants. The persons, who work inside the clean room, wear protective clothing while enter and exit through airlocks, while equipment and furniture inside the clean room is specially designed to produce minimal particles.
Today, more than 30 different industry segments utilize clean rooms including semiconductor and other electronic components, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries.