In a demonstration of cross-border engineering capability, Chinese cleanroom manufacturer Airkey has successfully designed, preassembled, and delivered a fully self-supporting modular cleanroom for a semiconductor production facility in Russia. The project highlights a growing trend among specialized equipment makers toward turnkey solutions that combine strict contamination control with rapid on-site installation.
A Complete Facility in a Compact Footprint
The cleanroom measures 16.7 meters in length, 9.3 meters in width, and 3.8 meters in height, achieving an ISO 8 (Class 100,000) environment. Unlike conventional cleanrooms that rely on building structural supports or ceiling suspension systems, this unit is fully free-standing. The self-supporting aluminum framework carries all mechanical and airflow loads, allowing the enclosure to be placed on a standard industrial floor without additional overhead anchorage.
For a chip production site where existing building geometry or ceiling strength might be uncertain, this approach substantially reduces both installation time and structural modification costs.
Contamination Control from the Entry Point
Personnel access is managed through a combined change room and air shower. Operators first enter the gowning area to put on cleanroom garments, then pass through an air shower that uses high-velocity HEPA-filtered air to dislodge and remove surface particles before they enter the main production zone.
The air shower cycle is interlocked with the doors, ensuring that only one side can be open at any moment, a simple but effective mechanism to maintain the pressure differential between the gowning area and the ISO 8 space.
For materials, the design incorporates a dedicated material airlock room equipped with fast-roll-up doors. These high-speed doors minimize the time that the airlock is open to the outside environment, reducing the ingress of particulates while allowing quick transfer of wafer cassettes, components, and consumables into the cleanroom.
The airlock can also be configured with an optional UV or HEPA filtration cycle, depending on the sensitivity of the incoming items.
Integrated HVAC and Real-Time Monitoring
To maintain stable semiconductor production conditions, the cleanroom is served by a dedicated HVAC system that controls both temperature and relative humidity. The system is sized to handle the full 16.7 × 9.3 m footprint, delivering enough air changes per hour to sustain ISO 8 class while keeping energy consumption within reasonable limits for continuous operation.
A separate monitoring system provides real-time visibility of critical parameters: temperature, humidity, and differential pressure across the cleanroom envelope and between zones. The monitoring data can be logged, displayed on a local touch panel, and optionally sent to a building management system.
For a chip fabrication line, having continuous, auditable records of environmental conditions is not just a convenience, it is often a requirement for process qualification and yield analysis.
Pre-Assembly and Factory Testing
One of the distinctive features of this project was the full pre-assembly at Airkey’s factory before shipment. Every wall panel, ceiling grid, fan filter unit, door interlock, duct connection, and sensor was installed and tested at the factory in China.
The air shower and fast-roll-up doors were cycled repeatedly to confirm correct sequencing, and the monitoring system was checked against reference instruments.
By completing these tests before disassembly for shipment, Airkey was able to identify and correct any fit-up or performance issues in a controlled workshop environment rather than on a customer’s production floor thousands of kilometers away.
Once the cleanroom arrived in Russia, the on-site assembly was largely a matter of reconnecting pre-matched components, dramatically reducing the risk of field modifications and schedule delays.
Why a Free-Standing Approach Matters for Chip Production
For many chip manufacturers, especially mid-sized fabs and assembly-test houses, building a conventional cleanroom often means reinforcing the roof structure, installing heavy overhead support steelwork, and coordinating with multiple trades over several months.
A free-standing modular cleanroom shifts that complexity from the construction site to the factory floor. The structural frame, walls, ceiling, HVAC, and electrical systems are integrated into a single engineered product.
The Russian client now has an ISO 8 environment that can be operated independently of the host building, and if production needs change, the cleanroom can be disassembled, relocated, or expanded with far less disruption than a traditional stick-built facility.
Project Takeaways
- Size: 16.7 m (L) × 9.3 m (W) × 3.8 m (H)
- Classification: ISO 8 (Class 100,000)
- Structure: Fully free-standing, no ceiling suspension required
- Personnel entry: Change room + interlocked air shower
- Material entry: Airlock room with fast-roll-up doors
- Environmental control: Dedicated HVAC for temperature & humidity
- Monitoring: Real-time sensors for temperature, humidity, and differential pressure
- Quality assurance: Factory pre-assembly and full system testing before shipment
For Airkey, the project reinforces a broader capability: designing modular cleanrooms that not only meet the technical requirements of semiconductor production but also adapt to the physical and logistical constraints of international installation sites.
Contact Airkey today to discuss how our ISO-certified modular cleanrooms can enhance your production quality and efficiency.
Website: www.airkeyx.com
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