Identification and analysis of factors affecting air flow optimization and particle dispersion in clean rooms of electronic industry
Abstract
Clean rooms play an important role in electronics industries, specifically for precision manufacturing by strictly regulating pollution control, contaminants, and pressure. Airflow design and particle behavior are key determinants of contamination control performance in clean rooms. Despite technological advances, suboptimal air distribution remains a major contributor to particle dispersion and energy inefficiency. The review systematically examines experimental and modeling studies on airflow management and clean room performance improvement and their real-world application. A search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science using keywords related to clean rooms, air pollution, and airflow. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, studies published from 2000 up to November 2025 were screened, and 25 studies were selected. To improve air flow and pollution control, various factors were identified along with their strategies and results. The factors identified were classified into four major classifications and their strategies and results were analyzed. These classifications included architectural and structural factors (e.g., room length, floor height), ventilation and air flow factors (e.g., velocity, air change rate, fan-filter-unit configuration), environmental and operational factors (e.g., activity of personnel, SCARA robot, season), and pollutant characteristics (e.g., particle size, and density). Current evidence indicates that performance improvement of clean rooms requires integrating these factors into a multi-objective framework balancing cleanliness, energy demand, and process stability. We propose a framework connecting different parameters to measurable cleanliness and energy efficiency indices.
1. Lu H-H, Lu M-C, Le T-C, An Z, Pui DY, Tsai C-J. Continuous improvements and future challenges of air pollution control at an advanced semiconductor fab. Aerosol and Air Quality Research. 2023;23(5):230034.
2. Daneshmandi H, Kee D, Kamalinia M, Oliaei M, Mohammadi H. An ergonomic intervention to relieve musculoskeletal symptoms of assembly line workers at an electronic parts manufacturer in Iran. Work. 2019;61(4):515-21.
3. Mathanlal T, Zorzano M-P, Martin-Torres J. Design, development, and operation of an ISO class 5 cleanroom for planetary instrumentation and planetary protection protocols. Heliyon. 2024;10(17).
4. Rizwan M, Ahmad S, Shah SN, Ali M, Shah MUH, Zaman M, et al. Optimizing the air conditioning layouts of an indoor built environment: towards the energy and environmental benefits of a clean room. Buildings. 2022;12(12):2158.
5. Permana I, Wang F. Performance improvement of a biotechnology vaccine cleanroom for contamination control. Journal of Building Engineering. 2024;82:108248.
6. Li C, Li H, Zhang M, Wang X, Huang C. The research on the particle concentration distribution of directed airflow in cleanrooms for operators. Plos one. 2024;19(3):e0296803.
7. Zhang X, Li H. Feasibility analysis for control of bioaerosol concentration at indoor corner via airflow from ventilation outlet with energy optimization. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020;248:119289.
8. Naosungnoen J, Thongsri J. Simulation of airflow in a cleanroom to solve contamination problem in an HDD production line. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research. 2018;7(1):41-5.
9. Vutla SR, Regalla SP, Ramaswamy K. Life cycle assessment of cleanroom for micro-electro-mechanical systems fabrication with insights on sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021;282:124520.
10. Zhao F-Y, Cheng J, Liu B, Huang Z-R, Li X. Indoor airflow and pollutant spread inside the cleanroom with micro-porous supplying panel and different ventilation schemes: Analytical, numerical and experimental investigations. Journal of Building Engineering. 2020;31:101405.
11. Liu Z, Yin D, Niu Y, Cao G, Liu H, Wang L. Effect of human thermal plume and ventilation interaction on bacteria-carrying particles diffusion in operating room microenvironment. Energy and Buildings. 2022;254:111573.
12. Seo MS, Kim HR, Kim GJ. Study of design parameters for semiconductor/FPD cleanroom focused on airborne contamination. Key engineering materials. 2004;277:424-30.
13. Shao X, Liang S, Zhao J, Wang H, Fan H, Zhang H, et al. Experimental investigation of particle dispersion in cleanrooms of electronic industry under different area ratios and speeds of fan filter units. Journal of Building Engineering. 2021;43:102590.
14. Shih Y-C, Hu S-C, Ku C-W, Chein R. Particle Deposition on a 300 mm Wafer Moving in the Opposite Direction of the Airflow in a Uni-directional Cleanroom. Aerosol and Air Quality Research. 2010;10(4):316-22.
15. Shiu H-R, Huang H-Y, Chen S-L, Ke M-T. Numerical simulation for air flow in the mini-environment and SMIF enclosure. IEEE transactions on semiconductor manufacturing. 2003;16(1):60-7.
16. Thongsri J. A problem of particulate contamination in an automated assembly machine successfully solved by CFD and simple experiments. Mathematical Problems in Engineering. 2017;2017(1):6859852.
17. Noh KC, Oh MD, Lee SC. A numerical study on airflow and dynamic cross-contamination in the super cleanroom for photolithography process. Building and Environment. 2005;40(11):1431-40.
18. Ma RH. Study on simulation of airflow within the enclosure in the semiconductor factory cleanroom. Aerosol Science and Technology. 2006;40(4):282-92.
19. Noh KC, Kim HS, Oh MD. Study on contamination control in a minienvironment inside clean room for yield enhancement based on particle concentration measurement and airflow CFD simulation. Building and Environment. 2010;45(4):825-31.
20. Lin T, Tung YC, Hu SC, Chen YJ. Experimental study on airflow characteristics and temperature distribution in non-unidirectional cleanrooms for electronic industry. Building and Environment. 2011;46(6):1235-42.
21. Liu TK, Jamshideasli D, Ramezanpour B, Ye W, Zeng Y, Zargar OA, et al. Control of flow, thermal and pollutant concentration fields by entrainer air streams to improve fresh air quality intake into a semiconductor manufacture/ processing plant. International Journal of Thermofluids. 2022;16.
22. Liu K, Hao M, Li B, Guan T, Chen S, Wang G, et al. Optimization on flow field in an operational cleanroom subject to kinematic component and structural parameters. Journal of Building Engineering. 2022;59:105152.
23. Permana I, Agharid AP, Singh N, Wang FJ. Full-scale evaluation of FFU configurations in an optical cleanroom injection molding for improving thermal performance and contaminant removal. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering. 2024;61.
24. Permana I, Agharid AP, Wang F. Performance improvement through CFD and field measurement in a unidirectional airflow cleanroom for wafer manufacture. Journal of Building Engineering. 2025;100.
25. Hu S, Chuah Y, Yen M. Design and evaluation of a minienvironment for semiconductor manufacture processes. Building and Environment. 2002;37(2):201-8.
26. Choi W-J, Yook S-J. Deposition velocity onto an inverted flat surface in a laminar parallel flow. Aerosol Science and Technology. 2010;44(11):919-29.
27. Hu S-C, Shiue Y-Y, Shiue A, Tsai M-H. Removal characteristics of particulate matter with different return air system designs in a nonunidirectional cleanroom for integrated circuit (Ic) testing processes. HVAC&R Research. 2014;20(1):162-6.
28. Han G, Feng G, Tang C, Pan C, Zhou W, Zhu J. Evaluation of the ventilation mode in an ISO class 6 electronic cleanroom by the AHP-entropy weight method. Energy. 2023;284:128586.
29. Yao C, Lee S, Wen X, Lee J, Lee S, Choi S, et al. A numerical study on effective arrangement of fan-filter units in a semiconductor cleanroom: Control of hazardous gas leakage from a process instrument. Building and Environment. 2025;267:112301.
30. Yao Q-H, Zhu Q-Y. Investigation of the Contamination Control in a Cleaning Room with a Moving AGV by 3D Large‐Scale Simulation. Journal of Applied Mathematics. 2013;2013(1):570237.
31. Zhao J, Shao X, Li X, Liang C, Wang H, Xu W. Theoretical expression for clean air volume in cleanrooms with non-uniform environments. Building and Environment. 2021;204:108168.
32. Wang F-J, Lai C-M, Zheng Y-R. The influence of alternative layouts for air-circulation on airflow patterns in the processing area of a cleanroom. Indoor and Built Environment. 2009;18(1):24-31.
33. Woo S-H, Lee S-C, Yook S-J. Statistical Lagrangian particle tracking approach to investigate the effect of thermophoresis on particle deposition onto a face-up flat surface in a parallel airflow. Journal of aerosol science. 2012;44:1-10.
34. Shao X, Hao Y, Liang S, Wang H, Liu Y, Li X. Experimental characterization of particle distribution during the process of reducing the air supply volume in an electronic industry cleanroom. Journal of Building Engineering. 2022;45:103594.
35. Tang C, Liang T, Vafai K. Dispersion of particles and airflow optimization for a semiconductor cleanroom. Journal of Aerosol Science. 2025;186:106570.
36. Yang Z, Hao Y, Shi W, Shao X, Dong X, Cheng X, et al. Field test of pharmaceutical cleanroom cleanliness subject to multiple disturbance factors. Journal of Building Engineering. 2021;42:103083.
37. Luo N, Weng W, Xu X, Fu M. Human-walking-induced wake flow–PIV experiments and CFD simulations. Indoor and Built Environment. 2018;27(8):1069-84.
38. Tak MN, Bhattacharya A, Metcalf AR, Mousavi E. Cleanroom air quality: combined effects of ventilation rate and filtration schemes in a laboratory cleanroom. Build Res Inf. 2023;51:717-29.
39. Guldana A, Niyetbay S, Zhanguzhinov A, Kassabekova G, Jartayeva D, Alimova K, et al. Impact of Airflow Disturbance from Human Motion on Contaminant Control in Cleanroom Environments: A CFD-Based Analysis. Buildings. 2025;15(13):2264.
40. Kalantary S, Pourbabaki R, Jahani A, Sadeghi Yarandi M, Samiei S, Jahani R. Development of a decision support system tool to predict the pulmonary function using artificial neural network approach. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience. 2021;33(16):e6258.
2. Daneshmandi H, Kee D, Kamalinia M, Oliaei M, Mohammadi H. An ergonomic intervention to relieve musculoskeletal symptoms of assembly line workers at an electronic parts manufacturer in Iran. Work. 2019;61(4):515-21.
3. Mathanlal T, Zorzano M-P, Martin-Torres J. Design, development, and operation of an ISO class 5 cleanroom for planetary instrumentation and planetary protection protocols. Heliyon. 2024;10(17).
4. Rizwan M, Ahmad S, Shah SN, Ali M, Shah MUH, Zaman M, et al. Optimizing the air conditioning layouts of an indoor built environment: towards the energy and environmental benefits of a clean room. Buildings. 2022;12(12):2158.
5. Permana I, Wang F. Performance improvement of a biotechnology vaccine cleanroom for contamination control. Journal of Building Engineering. 2024;82:108248.
6. Li C, Li H, Zhang M, Wang X, Huang C. The research on the particle concentration distribution of directed airflow in cleanrooms for operators. Plos one. 2024;19(3):e0296803.
7. Zhang X, Li H. Feasibility analysis for control of bioaerosol concentration at indoor corner via airflow from ventilation outlet with energy optimization. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020;248:119289.
8. Naosungnoen J, Thongsri J. Simulation of airflow in a cleanroom to solve contamination problem in an HDD production line. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research. 2018;7(1):41-5.
9. Vutla SR, Regalla SP, Ramaswamy K. Life cycle assessment of cleanroom for micro-electro-mechanical systems fabrication with insights on sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021;282:124520.
10. Zhao F-Y, Cheng J, Liu B, Huang Z-R, Li X. Indoor airflow and pollutant spread inside the cleanroom with micro-porous supplying panel and different ventilation schemes: Analytical, numerical and experimental investigations. Journal of Building Engineering. 2020;31:101405.
11. Liu Z, Yin D, Niu Y, Cao G, Liu H, Wang L. Effect of human thermal plume and ventilation interaction on bacteria-carrying particles diffusion in operating room microenvironment. Energy and Buildings. 2022;254:111573.
12. Seo MS, Kim HR, Kim GJ. Study of design parameters for semiconductor/FPD cleanroom focused on airborne contamination. Key engineering materials. 2004;277:424-30.
13. Shao X, Liang S, Zhao J, Wang H, Fan H, Zhang H, et al. Experimental investigation of particle dispersion in cleanrooms of electronic industry under different area ratios and speeds of fan filter units. Journal of Building Engineering. 2021;43:102590.
14. Shih Y-C, Hu S-C, Ku C-W, Chein R. Particle Deposition on a 300 mm Wafer Moving in the Opposite Direction of the Airflow in a Uni-directional Cleanroom. Aerosol and Air Quality Research. 2010;10(4):316-22.
15. Shiu H-R, Huang H-Y, Chen S-L, Ke M-T. Numerical simulation for air flow in the mini-environment and SMIF enclosure. IEEE transactions on semiconductor manufacturing. 2003;16(1):60-7.
16. Thongsri J. A problem of particulate contamination in an automated assembly machine successfully solved by CFD and simple experiments. Mathematical Problems in Engineering. 2017;2017(1):6859852.
17. Noh KC, Oh MD, Lee SC. A numerical study on airflow and dynamic cross-contamination in the super cleanroom for photolithography process. Building and Environment. 2005;40(11):1431-40.
18. Ma RH. Study on simulation of airflow within the enclosure in the semiconductor factory cleanroom. Aerosol Science and Technology. 2006;40(4):282-92.
19. Noh KC, Kim HS, Oh MD. Study on contamination control in a minienvironment inside clean room for yield enhancement based on particle concentration measurement and airflow CFD simulation. Building and Environment. 2010;45(4):825-31.
20. Lin T, Tung YC, Hu SC, Chen YJ. Experimental study on airflow characteristics and temperature distribution in non-unidirectional cleanrooms for electronic industry. Building and Environment. 2011;46(6):1235-42.
21. Liu TK, Jamshideasli D, Ramezanpour B, Ye W, Zeng Y, Zargar OA, et al. Control of flow, thermal and pollutant concentration fields by entrainer air streams to improve fresh air quality intake into a semiconductor manufacture/ processing plant. International Journal of Thermofluids. 2022;16.
22. Liu K, Hao M, Li B, Guan T, Chen S, Wang G, et al. Optimization on flow field in an operational cleanroom subject to kinematic component and structural parameters. Journal of Building Engineering. 2022;59:105152.
23. Permana I, Agharid AP, Singh N, Wang FJ. Full-scale evaluation of FFU configurations in an optical cleanroom injection molding for improving thermal performance and contaminant removal. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering. 2024;61.
24. Permana I, Agharid AP, Wang F. Performance improvement through CFD and field measurement in a unidirectional airflow cleanroom for wafer manufacture. Journal of Building Engineering. 2025;100.
25. Hu S, Chuah Y, Yen M. Design and evaluation of a minienvironment for semiconductor manufacture processes. Building and Environment. 2002;37(2):201-8.
26. Choi W-J, Yook S-J. Deposition velocity onto an inverted flat surface in a laminar parallel flow. Aerosol Science and Technology. 2010;44(11):919-29.
27. Hu S-C, Shiue Y-Y, Shiue A, Tsai M-H. Removal characteristics of particulate matter with different return air system designs in a nonunidirectional cleanroom for integrated circuit (Ic) testing processes. HVAC&R Research. 2014;20(1):162-6.
28. Han G, Feng G, Tang C, Pan C, Zhou W, Zhu J. Evaluation of the ventilation mode in an ISO class 6 electronic cleanroom by the AHP-entropy weight method. Energy. 2023;284:128586.
29. Yao C, Lee S, Wen X, Lee J, Lee S, Choi S, et al. A numerical study on effective arrangement of fan-filter units in a semiconductor cleanroom: Control of hazardous gas leakage from a process instrument. Building and Environment. 2025;267:112301.
30. Yao Q-H, Zhu Q-Y. Investigation of the Contamination Control in a Cleaning Room with a Moving AGV by 3D Large‐Scale Simulation. Journal of Applied Mathematics. 2013;2013(1):570237.
31. Zhao J, Shao X, Li X, Liang C, Wang H, Xu W. Theoretical expression for clean air volume in cleanrooms with non-uniform environments. Building and Environment. 2021;204:108168.
32. Wang F-J, Lai C-M, Zheng Y-R. The influence of alternative layouts for air-circulation on airflow patterns in the processing area of a cleanroom. Indoor and Built Environment. 2009;18(1):24-31.
33. Woo S-H, Lee S-C, Yook S-J. Statistical Lagrangian particle tracking approach to investigate the effect of thermophoresis on particle deposition onto a face-up flat surface in a parallel airflow. Journal of aerosol science. 2012;44:1-10.
34. Shao X, Hao Y, Liang S, Wang H, Liu Y, Li X. Experimental characterization of particle distribution during the process of reducing the air supply volume in an electronic industry cleanroom. Journal of Building Engineering. 2022;45:103594.
35. Tang C, Liang T, Vafai K. Dispersion of particles and airflow optimization for a semiconductor cleanroom. Journal of Aerosol Science. 2025;186:106570.
36. Yang Z, Hao Y, Shi W, Shao X, Dong X, Cheng X, et al. Field test of pharmaceutical cleanroom cleanliness subject to multiple disturbance factors. Journal of Building Engineering. 2021;42:103083.
37. Luo N, Weng W, Xu X, Fu M. Human-walking-induced wake flow–PIV experiments and CFD simulations. Indoor and Built Environment. 2018;27(8):1069-84.
38. Tak MN, Bhattacharya A, Metcalf AR, Mousavi E. Cleanroom air quality: combined effects of ventilation rate and filtration schemes in a laboratory cleanroom. Build Res Inf. 2023;51:717-29.
39. Guldana A, Niyetbay S, Zhanguzhinov A, Kassabekova G, Jartayeva D, Alimova K, et al. Impact of Airflow Disturbance from Human Motion on Contaminant Control in Cleanroom Environments: A CFD-Based Analysis. Buildings. 2025;15(13):2264.
40. Kalantary S, Pourbabaki R, Jahani A, Sadeghi Yarandi M, Samiei S, Jahani R. Development of a decision support system tool to predict the pulmonary function using artificial neural network approach. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience. 2021;33(16):e6258.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 11 No 2 (2026): Spring 2026 | |
| Section | Review Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Clean room; Electronics manufacturing; Airflow management; Particle; Ventilation performance | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Jafari Nodoushan M, Jafari A, Jafarizaveh M, Golbabaei F. Identification and analysis of factors affecting air flow optimization and particle dispersion in clean rooms of electronic industry. JAPH. 2026;11(2):251-270.
