Clean Room Certification
- Clean rooms are certified according to standards that set particulate content of clean room environments as measured in parts per million, the filtration system types and temperature controls. The International Organization for Standardization publishes standards used to certify clean room environments in document ISO 14644-1. The U.S. standards are published in Federal Standard 209E 100,000.
- Clean rooms and controlled environments are classified according to how much particulate matter per cubic foot of air is permitted. ISO classification divides clean rooms into nine classes. Class 9 is the least stringent and is basically room air. Class 1 limits the clean room environment to particle size and content to less than .5 micrometer per cubic meter.
- Before a company or university lab may begin using a clean room it must be inspected and certified by a clean room performance testing firm. These inspection and testing companies are certified by the National Environmental Balancing Bureau, a private industry association, and must meet strict requirements.
