I am looking for stickers and labels that can be part of instrumentation that goes inside clean rooms.  Actually what i am looking for is checking if the stickers that we use are made of a material that is allowed inside the clean room.  A list of materials that can be used will be of great help.

More generally – is there an official list of ALL the materials (not only for labels) that the semiconductors industry allows or banns (like paper and pencils) inside clean rooms?
Thx,
Huro

The 100% synthetic materials such as polypropylene, polyester, vinyl, nylon and teflon are commonly use for the cleanroom stickers and labels. These are not particulate material compared to paper based material. The cardboard roll cores should not be used for sticker and labels that come in the roll form.

The acrylic adhesive used should be free of out-gassing and contained no silicone, and also, it should not leave any residues when pulled off.

Below are some of other recommended clean room material items. For more information, you could refer to the the GSFCC "Global Society for Contamination Control" site at http://www.gsfcc.org

[u]Pens/Pencils[/u]
Use only one-piece ball point pens. Click-type pens will generate metal and plastic particles whenever they are retracted. Do not use pencils as they will generate graphite particles.

[u]Paper Products[/u]
Regular paper and cardboard should never be allowed in the cleanroom. Use only approved cleanroom paper such as synthetic coated paper or paper that has been wrapped in cleanroom packaging.
[u]
Buckets & Carts[/u]
All buckets should be made of plastic or stainless steel and should be discarded when they become too scratched or worn. Carts should have a stainless steel or smooth painted surface with wheels made of polyurethane,

[u]Packaging Material[/u]
Common packaging materials include nylon and polyethylene. These materials vary in level of cleanliness.

Cleanroom compatible materials is somewhat of a misnomer.

The Cleanroom Nazi’s will ask to prove that this material is “Cleanroom Compatible”.

The reality of the thing is going to be it depends. Sure you can buy cleanroom paper, or pens, chairs and the lot. But if your working in a ISO Class 8 or 9 environment, why spend the money on CR Paper and pens?

What might work for some, may not work for others. Other factors should be considered, based upon the type of cleanroom and the nature of the work your doing in it, as well as the sensitivity of the product to specific materials. (This covers the gambit of industries).

If a Cleanroom approved material is an insulator and has a high tribo-charging (electrostatic charge build up) number, it may not work in areas where you have very sensitive devices to ESD.

Also you can not look just at the particle shedding nature of a component alone. Plastics off gas and from some industries this would be a huge problem, more so then particles.

There is the particle shedding concerns, Out or off gassing concerns, ESD or electrostatic concerns, as well as simplicity to clean and chemical compatibility to address.

Bottom line is you can spend a lot of money on CR compatible materials, and still have problems associated with it.

Speaking of tribo-charging, if you ever have to remove a label (almost certainly to be of an insulating material) from a surface, make certain that it’s done in an area where ESD effects are not going to be an issue. The removal process will generate large amounts of static electricity.