Semiconductor cleanroom and HVAC measurements
High-precision environmental relative humidity and temperature monitoring for critical semiconductor fab zones from ±0.8% RH / ±0.1 °C
Your strictest bays need instruments that you don’t need to second guess
In semiconductor manufacturing, the environment is a variable that must be treated as a constant. Even minute fluctuations in humidity or temperature can lead to significant yield loss and energy waste.
To maintain cleanroom conditions, massive air recirculation is required, with high-tech cleanrooms changing air anywhere between 150 and 700 times per hour. At the same time, semiconductor machines introduce high thermal loads requiring instant cooling to protect sensitive wafers. Together, these demands can skyrocket HVAC costs, driving them to account for up to 50% of a fab’s total energy consumption.
When control slips, costs rise
Humidity and temperature drift in cleanrooms and HVAC systems influence yield erosion, high energy costs, and trigger unplanned maintenance.
Most fabs compensate with oversized safety margins, including tighter setpoints, more conditioning, more recalibration. The instruments that made that necessary are still running your HVAC.
Environmental monitoring
When unexpected yield, quality, or production issues are questioned, cleanroom teams are usually the first to answer questions.
With Vaisala's solutions, you have the environmental data to prove that your cleanroom conditions weren't the issue.
- AUTOMATE RECORDS: Continuous monitoring logs cleanroom conditions automatically, so you have the records to prove compliance when a customer or auditor asks.
- CONTROL REAL-TIME: Get real-time status indicators from the floor conditions, so drift gets caught before it reaches the batch.
- VALIDATE ACCURACY: Calibration certificates help you prove that instruments are operating correctly.
More air or better data?
Precise, stable measurement is what allows fabs to run tight HVAC and process control without overcompensating.
When you can trust the data, you can reduce safety margins, stabilize processes, and optimize energy use without risking yield.
Vaisala instruments offer accurate and stable measurements for temperature, and relative humidity.
Indigo & Origo: Built for every critical environment in your fab
From lithography bays to sub-fab air handling, every zone has a different measurement challenge, but here's where Vaisala instruments work. Accurate, stable measurement lets you run tighter, spend less, and stop second-guessing the data.
We offer flexible platforms matched to what each zone actually needs. Select Indigo for the strictest bays and superior features. Indigo300 and Indigo200 transmitters are suitable for where requirements are lighter. Select Origo for facilities and support zones.
Recommended Indigo applications
Fab cleanrooms and critical process bays
Lithography, etch, deposition, and coating steps demand ultra-stable humidity and temperature. Small deviations affect line width, overlay accuracy, and yield.
Indigo platform instruments with HMP series probes deliver ±0.8% RH accuracy with long-term stability better than ±0.5% RH even under chemical exposure.
HVAC supply, return, and recirculation
Cleanroom HVAC can account for up to 50% of a fab's total energy consumption. Accurate supply-air measurement lets control systems respond to real conditions and not compensate for measurement uncertainty.
Reducing unnecessary dehumidification and fan load by 15% is achievable when the data is trustworthy.
Make-up air and outside air conditioning
Outdoor air quality and seasonal humidity swings stress HVAC systems hardest at the boundary.
Reliable measurement at the air inlet prevents over-conditioning and supports predictive HVAC control.
Recommended for Indigo or Origo
Labs, metrology, and test environments
Measurement results in reliability, FA, and metrology labs are only as trustworthy as the environment they're taken in.
Vaisala instruments keep these controlled spaces within defined conditions, repeatably.
Recommended Origo applications
Packaging, assembly, and OSAT cleanrooms
Die attach, wire bonding, and flip-chip lines are humidity-sensitive at a different scale, but yield loss from environmental drift is equally real.
Vaisala covers these spaces with the same accuracy and lower cost per measurement point.
Semiconductor server room
Server rooms don't face the same humidity sensitivity as your cleanroom, but downtime there is just as costly.
Vaisala covers these spaces with the same accuracy your fab already relies on.
EPC/Integrator? Design one ecosystem for your RH, T and dew point cleanroom measurements
Thinking in systems will ease your life.
The Indigo ecosystem brings your cleanroom, HVAC, and utility measurements onto one platform, with comparable, traceable results across the fab.
The benefits:
- One platform serving your cleanroom monitoring, HVAC, and utilities, such as comp air
- Harmonized interfaces and wiring for less complexity
- Reliable delivery times
- Out-of-the-box deployment, no configuration needed
- Quick validation with the Indigo80 handheld after installation
0.05 °C temperature accuracy for your R&D lab, backed by ISO 17025 accredited calibration
Measurement is the first step towards maximizing thermal stability in your process environments.
Vaisala uses the highest quality PT100 platinum temperature sensors that can be individually adjusted at our accredited calibration lab against your requirements. Custom select multiple temperature reference points with a wide operational range -93 °C ...+ 180 °C. Measurement uncertainty down to 0.03 °C.
Add redundant temperature measurement points to remove single-sensor risk from your critical runs.
Is your nitrogen still dry when it reaches the production area?
Your cleanroom's bulk gases travels through piping, valves, and fittings before it reaches the process. Moisture can enter anywhere along the path, and by the time it shows up as a defect, the chip batch may already be compromised.
Vaisala's dew point sensors monitor moisture accurately at both the inlet and outlet feeds. And you can be sure that your gas supply was never the problem.
Related products
Humidity and Temperature Probe HMP1
Humidity and Temperature Probe HMP3
Relative Humidity and Temperature Probe HMP7
Compact Humidity and Temperature Probe HMP9
Indigo500 Series Transmitters
Indigo300 transmitter
Indigo200 Series Transmitters for Vaisala smart probes
