Cleanroom products up to ISO Class 1

Components for display robots or pick-and-place applications in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics

The cleanroom places particularly high demands on the abrasion resistance of moving components, as any contamination has a detrimental effect on products and processes. That costs money. We develop and test our high-performance polymer products with the utmost care in our own cleanroom laboratory. In order to show that our products are ideal for use in cleanrooms, they are subjected to further tests by the Fraunhofer Institute. This gives us an IPA-tested product portfolio with the best possible cleanroom classification (ISO Class 1).

Advantages of our cleanroom products:

Save on installation space and weight
Low noise and low vibration
Fast delivery and easy installation
Easy-to-open e-chains for quick cable replacement
Tested long service life with guarantee: > 50 million double strokes
Chains, cables and connectors available individually from batch size 1 – or as a complete system from a single source

White paper

Energy supply systems for the cleanroom

In this white paper, you will learn how you can use the right energy supply in the cleanroom to

increase plant efficiency
generate higher production line yields
use energy supply systems more sustainably

Download now to find out more

Areas of use

Microelectronics

Semiconductor industry

Display industry

Cleanroom compatible products

Energy chains

e-chains in cleanroom environments have to be particularly abrasion-resistant, as airborne particles above the strict limits specified in standards are released and can contaminate the cleanroom.

Cleanroom energy chains

Cables and hoses

Pneumatic hoses and cables with IPA ISO Class 1 and 2 – also available ready for connection, suitable for Bosch Rexroth, Festo, Parker, Siemens and many other manufacturers.

Cleanroom cables

Linear guides

In our range of dry-operating linear guide systems, we offer four models that are certified for use in ISO Class 6 to 3 cleanrooms.

Cleanroom linear guides

Slewing ring bearings

The sliding elements of PRT-04-100 made of iglidur J minimise particle emissions, so they can be used in cleanroom applications.

PRT-04 slewing ring bearings

Easy and safe cleaning: Study on drygear Apiro in hygienic design

Easy and safe cleaning of cost-effective gearboxes made of solid plastic thanks to open design
Modular design for manual and motorised
adjustments
Quick conversion possible
Installation without special tools
High product compatibility

More about drygear Apiro HD

Predictive maintenance in cleanroom applications

"Pure" world premiere ...

... Predictive maintenance in the cleanroom with i.Cee EC.S
The smart ultrasonic sensor technology in this cleanroom highlight is used to continuously monitor the current sag of the e-skin® flat system. The e-skin® flat with support chain SKF.S is equipped with a defined bend radius and therefore also enables free-running lengths in the cleanroom. As soon as a critical condition of the energy supply system is detected, predictive maintenance recommendations are issued.

2022 smart plastics news: i.Cee EC.S in cleanrooms

Products according to cleanroom class

ISO 14644-1	FED STD 209E	GMP (non-operational)	Max. particles (0.5 micron) m³	Max. particles (0.5 micron) f³	igus products that meet the standard
1	N/A		N/A		Energy chains, Cables, Corrugated tubes, Pneumatic hoses
2	N/A		N/A		see above
3	1		35		see above + Linear guides
4	10		352		see above
5	100	A & B	3,520	100	see above
6	1,000		35,200	997	see above
7	10,000	C	352,000	9,967	see above
8	100,000	D	3,520,000	99,675	see above
9	N/A		35,200,000	996,747	see above

Cleanroom tests according to ISO 14644-14 for fast customer developments

To develop new cleanroom-compatible motion plastics more quickly, Fraunhofer IPA, acting as a development and certification partner on behalf of igus, has designed and built a customised cleanroom laboratory with an ISO Cleanroom Class 1 system in Cologne.
In the new laboratory, we can perform customer tests and new developments in advance under real-world conditions in the shortest possible time.

Learn more about our cleanroom laboratory now

Questions & answers regarding cleanroom technology products

Do the cleanroom products fulfil the increasing requirements?
As the quality requirements in the field of cleanroom technology are constantly increasing, both from the customer side and in terms of testing standards, igus is continuously working on improving its products. To this end, igus has been carrying out tests for cleanroom suitability since 1997 in its own test laboratory. In addition, corresponding products are tested externally by the Fraunhofer Institute.

Are igus plain bearings suitable for cleanrooms?
The cleanroom suitability of our iglidur plain bearings is determined on the basis of the wear particles released in the application. The size and quantity of the released wear particles depend on the:

respective pairing of shaft and plain bearing material
other application parameters such as load, speed, etc.

For this reason, no clearly definable cleanroom materials are possible for our plain bearings, but are dependent on the application. Our experts will be happy to help you choose the right material (contact form).

Successful in use in cleanroom applications

Positioning systems in electronics manufacturing

Durable energy supply systems for positioning systems in electronics production

Jenaer Antriebstechnik GmbH relies on our fully harnessed readychain systems for its exposure and laser scribing systems. Energy chains from the cleanroom-compatible E6 and E3 product range, including strain relief, connectors, guide troughs and mounting plates, are used to safely guide the drive, measuring system and compressed air cables as well as other media in the positioning unit.

Find out more about this application

Mingseal adhesive dispenser for camera modules

Clean energy supply for adhesive dispenser for camera modules

Mingseal uses our e-skin corrugated tube in its adhesive dispenser for camera modules. It combines the requirements of the engineers in terms of openability, inherent rigidity, compactness and the highest cleanroom suitability in accordance with ISO Class 1.

Find out more about this application

Lubrication-free lead screw and linear technology in filling systems for reaction vessels

Trapezoidal lead screws with matching nuts have been installed at various points in the fully automatic filling system for medical products at bionanalytic GmbH. There are also linear guides in miniature design. All machine elements are lubrication-free and have virtually no particle emissions, meaning they also prove their worth in the cleanroom.

Find out more about this application

Cleanroom 3D printer

A precise and reliable cleanroom 3D printer for processing thermoplastics

Find out more about this application

e-skin flat in use in a linear system with air bearings

Linear system with air bearings for high-precision adjustments

An e-skin flat SKF12.4.03.01.1 as a 4-fold layer together with PVC & TPE cables from igus ensures the reliable energy supply of a linear system with air bearings.

Find out more about this application

Cleanroom application example semiconductors

Energy supply systems in semiconductor production

Clean air is needed in the production of the Fixload. This is due to the very sensitive area of application of the load interface for 300mm wafer processing devices in semiconductor manufacturing. As the wafers to be processed are unprotected and exposed to their surroundings during loading, the technical equipment must not generate any particles.
This is why an abrasion-resistant energy supply is used here, which can be used in ISO Class 3 cleanrooms (in accordance with DIN EN ISO 146441-1).

Wafer handling

With the E6 e-chain, the supply of energy for wafer handling in chip production involving acceleration rates of up to 4m/s2 and speeds of up to 6m/s is not a problem.

Use in a laboratory unit for liquid handling.

drylin TR high helix thread nuts for laboratory equipment

drylin TR high helix thread nuts were used in laboratory equipment for handling liquids. The advantage for cleanrooms is their low coefficient of friction. This leads to higher efficiency.
In addition, no lubrication is required, which prevents contamination by the corresponding equipment.