The high-tech manufacturing site in Goettingen is a competence center for semiconductor products within Excelitas and therefore strategically important in view of the growing market in this field. Excelitas expects a further increase of business in this segment in the coming years. The photonics company continually invests in latest technologies in order to be able to meet the increasing demands from its customers.

In order to be able to handle the increasing business according to the required standard and for meeting the requested short lead times, Excelitas has further extended its cleanroom capacity at its Qioptiq site in Goettingen early 2015 by 175 square meters (ISO class 6). Another cleanroom had already been put into operation in December 2012. Currently Excelitas operates 430 square meters of cleanroom space for the assembly of complex optical systems in Goettingen.

At present approximately 240 employees work at the site in Goettingen. Globally around 5,500 people are employed with Excelitas and Qioptiq.

Cooperation with Schilling Engineering leads to only two months implementation time
The company decided to work with Schilling Engineering on this technically very demanding project, like several times before. Schilling Engineering is a specialized cleanroom manufacturer. An extremely tight schedule was particularly challenging: The new cleanroom was built within two months and could be put into operation end of March 2015. By this means, a first optical module could be delivered to the customer end of May, according to their requested schedule.

Dr. Robert Vollmers, Excelitas Vice President Operations and Qioptiq Managing Director: “It was of major importance for our customer to receive the product which was assembled in the new cleanroom in time. Without the efforts of the Schilling engineers and their high quality of work, this target would not have been met. Our customer’s great trust in Qioptiq could therefore be further strengthened.”

Sebastian Illert, Operations Manager Qioptiq Goettingen, is convinced that it is absolutely required to have state-of-the-art clean room technology available: “We are very pleased with the technology and functionality of the CleanCell cleanroom. Now we can offer a very high level in precision manufacturing of optomechanical systems and modules. The cooperation with the experienced technicians of our partner was very smooth in this project again, and we are very happy with the result. Schilling Engineering understands our high demands and is able to implement our requirements in a quick and precise way.”

State-of-the-art cleanroom equipment meets the highest standards
The production and assembly of opto-mechanical components for integrated semiconductors requires a nearly particle-free environment and a stable temperature and humidity. Since the highly sensitive components are already affected by the slightest contamination, the production process takes place exclusively under controlled cleanroom conditions.

The newly installed cleanroom system CleanCell© with a total area of 175 square meters guarantees an air quality of cleanroom class ISO 6. The plant consists of three cleanrooms, which are interconnected with mutually interlocking electric sliding doors. In the largest room the installation of high-sensitivity opto-mechanical components will be held on 85 square meters, other rooms are used for testing and packaging and are set up for specific laser measurements.

The staff and the components are introduced into the cleanroom through separate personnel and material locks. As some components have a large volume and the special temperature and humidity stable packaging materials occupy much space, the material airlock was designed with 12 square meters and equipped with wide roll-up doors. The special cleanroom doors have a high tightness and a very rapid opening and closing, which keeps the air exchange and the pressure drop low.

The cleanroom system is equipped with high-performance ULPA U15 filters. Directed air currents remove the tiniest particles from the work environment. An innovative air circulation and return air guidance inside the cleanroom walls ensures precise cleanroom rinse and has a high energy efficiency, as the already filtered and cooled air is fed back into the cycle of air exchange.

Wall and ceiling modules of the clean room are connected with a silicone-free sealing-clip-system. This guarantees an extremely high tightness of the clean rooms, low particle emission and offers the advantage of flexible expansion or dismantling possibilities of the modular system.

The application of the cleanroom control system CR Control®, which had already proven itself at the Göttingen location, was part of the project again. Two interactive screens of the control system are connected to sensors, which measure pressure, humidity and temperature, to filter modules, air-conditioning cabinets, door and light functions and other components. All main functions are monitored and can be individually controlled and regulated.

This article was published: Productronic 9/2015