CLEAN ROOM GUIDELINES AND SAFETY EHS: Campus Emergency: X99 (From a campus phone)
General and Safety No eating and drinking are allowed in the clean room and gowning room areas. Safety training as described on our website is required in order to enter the clean room. When you first enter the clean room make sure you know where the emergency exits, safety showers and eye showers of the clean room are located. Due to safety considerations - proper dressing to the clean room is required: No shorts or skirts are allowed at any given month of the year. Long pants must be worn at all times. Leather or plastic closed Shoes are required. No sandals or flip-flops are allowed. No extra garments or personal items are allowed in the Change Room or Cleanroom Umbrellas Jackets Bags or Purses
General No unapproved chemicals or materials, including paper or pens not compatible with clean room environment. You may bring in Labware, Approved Chemicals, metal sources, clean room compatible pens or paper, wiped laptop, and materials targets. All chemicals left in the clean room must be labeled clearly with your name, group, chemical name, and date. Do Not hold the lab door or change room open.
Gowning Up To Gown Up use: Foot covers (booties) Sit Down while putting your booties on. Hair net (hair tied up in net) A Lab coat or bunny suit. For the new clean room only bunny suits will be allowed. Safety Glasses Gloves (to prevent clean room contamination). In case of working with chemicals additional pair of gloves on top of these may be required. Do not gown/Un-gown on tacky mats
Chemicals Policies All chemicals must be approved by the clean room staff and have a MSDS in the clean room database. In order to get a chemical approved send us an with the relevant chemical MSDS. All users must familiarize themselves with the relevant MSDS of the chemicals they need to use. All approved factory chemical bottles brought into the Clean Room must have a Columbia Bar Code on the container with the Clean Room as the destination storage place.
Chemicals Policies All chemicals and beakers must be labeled Chemical name (no formulas) Your full name “In Use date” ( The date the chemical first placed in service) Your group (PI) Chemicals with “In Use date” of one year or greater will be disposed. All chemical containers must be self standing.
Storage of Chemicals: All chemicals must be stored in the appropriate storage containers Do not store different classifications of chemicals in the same storage container: Flammables cannot be stored together with Oxidizers Acids cannot be stored with Basis Organic materials with inorganic ones
Chemical Waste Never hold the bottle cap, hold chemical and chemical waste bottles with both hands using the handle. Chemicals should not be poured into the drain but into designated waste bottles. Remove funnels when done pouring waste. Waste bottles should never be filled above 2/3 of their volume. The clean room will provide labeled waste containers (see next slide). These containers must be kept either inside the fume hoods with their caps or in designated cabinets until waste designated pickup. Add only these chemicals to the corresponding waste container. These are known stable mixtures. If your chemical or chemical mixture is not one that has been provided, you will need to create your own label for a new container. This should be sent for waste disposal upon completion of use. Contact the clean room staff for questions. Piranha, NanoStrip, HF, and BOE cannot be collected in glass containers Only cooled Piranha can be poured into waste bottles. Under no circumstance should anyone modify a waste container label.
Disposal and Storage of Chemical Waste Do not pour chemicals down the drain Rinse empty chemical containers out three times Mark rinsed containers with a 3X and place in the Chemical Waste bucket under the bench in the gowning area. All waste containers must have a ‘CHEMICAL/HAZARDOUS WASTE FOR DISPOSAL’ label filled out at their origin
While Using Tools and Clean Room Equipment: No use of cell phones while working in the clean room with two exceptions: in case of an emergency or to report equipment problems Must wear gloves and glasses (microscope exception for glasses). Personal protective equipment should be worn when working with chemicals. Do not adjust gas pressures on regulators Do not leave equipment while in use Do not modify or try to fix problems in the Tools in anyway
While Using Tools and Equipment Only certified users for the specific tool are allowed to use it. You have to enable the tool in badger to use it. Abide by the specific training guidelines for that specific tool (If you are unsure, please ask) Do not leave personal or group (PI) materials out on tables or by tools Report all equipment problems whether it’s logged into log book or not or call Clean Room staff Completely fill out log book Remember to log-out the tool when finished
Lithography All resist bottles are located and available in the refrigerator. Label individual usage bottles with Your Name, resist name, and “In Use date”. Clean photo resist spinners and chucks (with Acetone) after each use. Aluminum foil may be used.
Work Alone Policy Working alone with chemicals in the cleanroom is prohibited. There should be at least one observer in the lab who is aware of the wet chemistry work when it is happening. Additionally, a C14 qualified person must be present on the floor during the time of chemical handling. There is no ‘afterhours’ wet chemistry work. Normal hours of operation for the cleanroom are Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm (unless closed for site holiday). All other hours are considered ‘afterhours’. Other than chemical operations, working alone is an acceptable practice providing the worker has been C14 qualified. It is recommended that workers who are alone in the lab have a cell phone on them and maintain regular contact with an individual who is outside of the laboratory.
Working with Others: You do not work alone! Please be mindful and considerate of other users Always leave tools in a pumped down, standard operating, status ready for the next user Clean your materials, tools, chemicals, and equipment up when you are finished with your work Do not use other people’s or group’s glassware, tools, chemicals, etc…..
Questions? Problems? Requests? Contact us!
Useful links The NFPA diamond: EHS library of MSDS, Columbia university: