Using contamination and ESD tests to qualify and certify cleanroom gloves

摘要

The first installment in a three-part series focuses on which contamination and ESD tests are appropriate for the qualification of deanroom gloves. Cleanroom gloves are critical to high-technology manufacturing. A brief search of the recent literature on contamination and electrostatic discharge (ESD) shows a surprising lack of published research. One study examined alcohol extracts using infrared spec-troscopy for organic species and optical emission spectroscopy for trace element cations. Auger electron spectroscopy was also performed on glove fingerprints. This study showed that a high quantity of plasticizer can be extracted from polyvinyl chloride gloves. Another study dealt with both functional and quantitative laboratory evaluations of gloves.