Cross-sector key competence
High-Purity Cleaning.
When clean just isn’t enough.
At a certain point, ‘visually clean’ is no longer enough. Ultrafine particles, organic residual films and ionic residues then determine whether a coating adheres, a weld seam is leak-tight or a wafer process remains undamaged. For these applications, Silberhorn develops ultra-pure cleaning solutions – for sensitive components, critical surfaces and processes with the most stringent cleanliness requirements.
When ‘clean’ isn’t clean enough in metrological terms
High-purity applications rarely fail due to coarse contamination. They fail because of what cannot be seen: particles from the finest threads, organic residue films on seemingly bare surfaces, residues from blind holes – and, not least, the cleaning chemicals themselves, when they become a source of contamination.
Typical requirements we must meet in this context:
- Ultrafine particles – including those from threads, blind holes and drill chips
- Residual organic films – film-like contamination that is not visually detectable
- Ionic contamination – critical in contact, electronics and hydrogen applications
- Defined water quality – deionised water rinses with conductivity and media monitoring
- Stain-free drying – residue-free, without drying marks
- Low-contamination handling – to ensure cleanliness is not compromised on the way to assembly
Many sectors, one requirement
‘High Purity’ is not an industry, but a level of purity. It is found wherever the follow-on costs of contamination are many times greater than the cost of cleaning:
One procedure isn’t enough. Several are.
High-purity cleanliness is not achieved through a single process, but through the right combination of several mechanisms of action in a defined sequence – and through the rigorous monitoring of what happens between the stages. This is precisely what our high-purity processes are designed to achieve:
- Multiple mechanisms of action in a single solution – spray and flood cleaning, ultrasonics, alternating pressure and immersion processes, coordinated with one another rather than simply run in parallel
- Controlled rinsing stages using deionised water of a defined quality, monitored via conductivity and media circuits
- Highly effective filtration and reliable drainage of internal contours
- High-quality drying without residues or stains
- Documentable recipes – reproducible rather than manual, with traceable process monitoring
- Low-contamination handling right through to handover, directly to the cleanroom on request
Process development at the pilot plant
Test series prior to design
Cleanroom connection completed
Delivery up to ISO Class 7
In-house VDA test laboratory
Evidence held in-house, not by a third party
Made in Germany
In-house manufacturing, worldwide service
Equipment for high-purity applications
UltraFine-DiP – final high- and ultra-high-purity cleaning.
Ultrasonic cleaning, immersion processes and various fluid circulation systems for the final cleaning stage prior to cleanroom entry, coating or bonding.
Multidip – high throughput with the highest purity.
Multi-stage immersion processes, where both the quantity and purity requirements are high.
MWS chamber cleaning systems – designed specifically for high-purity applications.
Spray and flood cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning and pulsed pressure cleaning combined with deionised water rinses, tailored to the component and cleanliness class.
Cleaning and testing – all from a single source
In-house VDA testing laboratory.
Residual contamination analysis in accordance with VDA 19 / ISO 16232, gravimetric and optical analysis, bath samples, archiving. The results are generated in-house – not by a third party over which we have no control.
Technology trials at the technical centre.
Before designing a high-purity system, we clean your original components under real-world conditions – free of charge, with no obligation, and with reliable results rather than promises found in brochures.
This is what a high-purity design looks like:
The specific design of a high-purity cleaning solution depends on the component in question. As a guide, here is a design from our portfolio – an MWS 4145 chamber cleaning system for mechanical components made of stainless steel and aluminium:
Range of components
- Components up to approximately 500 × 350 × 250 mm
- Threads from M2.5
- Deep blind holes
- Depending on the component, up to 50 parts per batch
Process and handover
- High-pressure and flood cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning and pulsed pressure
- Deionised water rinses
- three previous test series at the Silberhorn Technical Centre
- Direct transfer to an ISO Class 7 cleanroom
The integration of cleanroom facilities and process development at the pilot plant are not merely plans, but have already been implemented.
Frequently Asked Questions about High-Purity Cleaning
Does Silberhorn also handle the cleaning without us having to buy a system?
Yes. Through our contract cleaning service, we can clean your components without you having to make any capital investment – which is useful during periods of peak demand, for small batches, or if you are still evaluating the process.
Can cleaning products themselves become a problem?
Yes. In high-purity applications, chemicals are among the most common sources of contamination. That is why we design the media routing, rinse stages and filtration right from the start – and test in our pilot plant whether the process delivers on its promises in terms of residue behaviour.
How does high-purity cleaning differ from conventional component cleaning?
In three points: the combination of several mechanisms of action rather than a single process; controlled water quality with conductivity monitoring; and post-cleaning handling. A component that has been cleaned to a high standard of purity but is subsequently transported without protection is no longer high-purity.
What exactly does ‘high-purity cleaning’ mean?
High-purity cleaning refers to cleaning processes for components in which not only particulate but also film-like and ionic contaminants must be kept below very strict limits. Unlike with conventional component cleaning, the result can no longer be verified visually – it must be verified by metrological measurement.
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR
CLEANING JOB
Please describe your cleaning requirements to us. You will receive a no-obligation reply directly from our team of experts within 24 hours.
AxelHaschkamp
Head of Sales & Marketing