History of the Cleanroom
The original cleanroom for the Yale Center for Microelectronic Materials and Structures Center opened in the 1980s. It had a staff of one manager, and was funded solely through faculty users from the Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics departments.
Over the next 20 years research technology advanced past the cleanroom’s capability. To remain competitive the university committed to a multimillion dollar renovation and upgrade of the laboratory, while changing the operating model to an autonomous internal service provider.
Today the University Cleanroom serves hundreds of graduate students, research associates, and post doctoral associates, supporting research in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Cell Biology, and Physics. There are currently three full time staff members responsible for training new users, providing process guidance, and maintaining facility hardware.
