Paper or “Paperless”?

Which is better in terms of contamination control in a cleanroom Paper or Paperless?

On the surface, this might be viewed as the cleanroom equivalent of the familiar “Paper or Plastic?” question.  But, in reality, it forces us to consider the issue of whether cleanroom paper has a future in the modern cleanroom.

The paperless approach was to be preferred because of its simplicity (one less thing to buy and track) and because cleanroom paper is not totally devoid of particles and fibers despite the use of latex binders to minimize these contaminants.  Further, cleanroom paper is not electrically dissipative, so it can represent an ESD concern in sensitive environments – e.g. semiconductor and data storage cleanrooms.  That being said, cleanroom paper is ubiquitous throughout the world’s cleanrooms, so it is not likely to disappear instantly.  Handled properly, it does a good job of providing convenient note, record and data storage at a reasonable cost.

It is fair to expect that the migration to a paperless cleanroom will likely continue,  given the increasing popularity of mobile electronic devices and apps for information storage and retrieval.  However, addressing the task of getting all stakeholders involved (management, cleanroom supervisors, end users, IT personnel) to some level of agreement as to which device and application will be best remains an ongoing challenge to the industry in its movement to a paperless environment.  Couple that to the significant upfront cost to equip and maintain users or work stations with the necessary electronic devices, along with the software to provide replication with corporate servers and it becomes clear that cleanroom paper will likely remain a cost-effective, reliable choice for some data recording for the foreseeable future.

We would be interested in your comments regarding the paper/paperless discussion.  Please feel free to post your remarks on the Cleanroom Forum.