Cleaning and hygiene technologies

Testing

• Test cleaning of components, surfaces, metal belts and sensitive products or functional surfaces
• Cleaning with the aforementioned technologies and processes
• Different cleaning systems and blasting agents
• Up to ultra-fine cleaning or disinfection/sterilization
• Process optimization and damage analysis

Development

• Process development and optimization
• Development and construction of customer-specific cleaning modules and systems
• Monitoring and process control

Inspection

• Surface inspection on final substrates
• Belt inspection, clean room ISO class 6
• 100% web inspection with CCD, 14 µm pixel size
• Microscope with up to 1 µm resolution
• Surface and process analysis
• Topography and material analysis with FE-SEM, ion beam preparation possible
• Microscopy, EDS, ellipsometry and UV/VIS spectroscopy
• Contact angle and surface energy
• Bubble pressure tensiometry for analyzing cleaning baths

Cleaning with liquid media

• Test cleaning and process development e.g. on the CLAIRE + X test facility
• Variable cleaning systems

Plasma cleaning

• In-line in low-pressure plasma
• Gentle atmospheric plasmas

Cleaning with solid blasting media

• Vacuum suction blasting system
• Different blasting media from corundum to PUR foam

Cleaning with CO₂ snow

• Ultra-fine cleaning
• Combination of mechanical, thermal and solvent properties

Cleaning with plasma-treated water (PAW)

• Disinfection effect
• Research focus: Use as an acidic cleaning agent

Cleaning with phase fluids

• Cooperation with Intelligent Fluids
• Joint development of a process control option

Cleaning/stripping for wafer processes

• Various options from manual cleaning to automatic cleaning with multi-frequency US, Marangoni lift-out and IR drying

Contact cleaning for foils

• In-line contact roller system with ionization, high cleaning performance for particles > 1 µm
• Max. web width 1250 mm, max. 150 m/min

Magnetic field-assisted sputter etcher

• 1.25 m processing width, scalable
• Up to 10 nm*m/s dynamic etch rate
• Only for flat, thin, metallic, non-ferromagnetic substrates
• Very homogeneous material removal

Hollow cathode-assisted sputter etcher

• Point source with intensity distribution, stackable
• Up to 3 nm*m/s dynamic etch rate
• For metallic 3D surfaces
• For thick, flat metallic substrates

• Cleaning with liquid media
• On-site process analysis
• Damage analysis with process optimization
• Adaptation of cleaning systems to changed requirements
• Development of cleaning processes for extreme requirements
  

• Cleaning with liquid media
• On-site process analysis
• Damage analysis with process optimization
• Adaptation of cleaning systems to changed requirements
• Development of cleaning processes for extreme requirements

Cleaning technology planning for a completely new production line

• Goods flow analysis and logistics
• All process interfaces with associated cleanliness requirements
• Economic efficiency analysis
• Selection of suitable cleaning and testing procedures
• Support with tendering, commissioning, and employee training
  

Additional expertise

• Processing and coating technologies
• Sterilization, microbiology

Definition

• Sterilization is a hygiene measure in which medical devices or pharmaceutical preparations are rendered germ-free.
• A reduction in the viable germ count of at least  6 log levels must be achieved.

Traditional methods are based on different principles.

• Thermal methods: → unsuitable for temperature-sensitive materials
  Autoclaving, hot air sterilization
• Chemical methods: → time-consuming, cross-reactions with polymers
  Ethylene oxide fumigation, formaldehyde fumigation
• Radiation-based methods: → sometimes only centralized, time-consuming, cross-reactions due to highly reactive process environment
• Gamma irradiation, high-energy electron irradiation, (X-ray irradiation), UV radiation, plasma

The above-mentioned processes are available as sterilization methods at Fraunhofer FEP for testing and development purposes and can also be used as reference processes for new technology developments.

Why are alternative methods to traditional methods needed?

• Sterilization methods must keep pace with the development of innovative medical devices
  

Low-energy electron beam sterilization

• Low-energy electron beam technology offers numerous advantages for the sterilization of innovative medical devices

Definition of disinfection

• Disinfection is a hygiene measure designed to kill pathogens in order to significantly reduce their numbers.
• In contrast to sterilization, the viable germ count is reduced by 4 to 5 log levels, usually 4 log levels.

Established methods and application examples

• Surface disinfection using UV-C-based methods
  Project example CleanScreen: Automated sanitization of touch displays in public areas.
• Surface disinfection using combination methods
  Project example MobDi: Robot-based surface disinfection in public areas using a combination of suction, wiping, and irradiation methods (UV-C and plasma)
• Project example Siphon: Prevention of biofilm formation in pipes using photocatalytically active TiO₂ coatings
• Investigation and microbiological evaluation of disinfectants and methods in the biomedical laboratory unit
  
  
  

New methods and technologies

• Driven by sustainability efforts and resource efficiency
• Project example BiClean: self-sanitizing surface through back-side activation of photocatalytically active, transparent TiO₂ coatings
• Research focus Plasma-treated fluids (PBF): Plasma (reactive gas) + water + time → PBF with reactive N and O species
  • Long service life of the reactive species formed (up to years)
  • More sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional disinfection, sterilization, and cleaning methods
    

Cross-section of the topic area of industrial (component) cleaning

• PBF for minimizing cleaning chemicals
• Replacement of cleaning chemicals
  

Differentiation microbicidal and dirt-repellent (easy-to-clean)

• Microbicidal substances or surfaces: direct inactivation of germs
• Easy-to-clean surfaces: Avoiding the adhesion of contamination, but no direct inactivation of germs

Technologies and methods

• Surface structuring, e.g. lotus effect: germ and dirt-repellent effect, e.g. through plasma treatment of polymers
• Surface coating, e.g. silver: release of microbicidal silver ions
  e.g. through plasma-based coating processes, suitable for various substrate materials
  Combination layers possible, e.g. silver & copper

Biomedical laboratory unit of the Fraunhofer FEP

• Microbiology, e.g. testing for product sterility or bacterial contamination
• Cell biology, e.g. evaluation of cell compatibility
• Bioanalytics, special test setups and customer-oriented analyses

Research and development focus

• Development of application-oriented test regimes
• Diverse Microorganisms and cell lines at S2 level
• Norm related studies possible
• Biocompatibility and cytotoxicity testing
• Evaluation of efficiency of disinfection and sterilization processes, microbicidal effectiveness of surfaces, direct correlation to material properties