Cleanroom contamination monitoring using FTIR

Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to obtain spectrum of some consumable products used in the Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN) cleanroom at UKM. These spectra are used as reference FTIR databases. Random samples were extracted from that consumable products and tested using FTIR to get sample spectra. These sample spectra were then used as "fingerprints" to determine the identity of contaminants by matching the IR absorption spectrum with reference databases. All reference gave reproducible characteristic infrared absorption spectra. The samples showed close similarity of spectrum corresponding to the source of extraction. While using glass disk as a device and a randomly chosen sample as contaminant, we could successfully determine the source of contaminant by deducting the glass disk spectrum and comparing it with databases. In this experiment, each of materials produces a fingerprint that can be used to identify potential sources of contamination.