Intel Opens Chip Factory to Reporter Under Strict Contamination Controls

A Business Insider reporter toured Intel's semiconductor fabrication plant in Hillsboro, Oregon, after receiving a list of prohibited items that included regular deodorant, lotion, hairspray, makeup, Velcro, and Bluetooth devices. The reporter and videographer also placed phones in airplane mode before entering. The restrictions were issued months ahead of the March visit.

Entry and gowning procedures Upon arrival, the visitors cleaned camera equipment with sterilizing wipes, including tripod legs, before entering a gowning room stocked with suits valued at about $1,000 each. Chris Auth, Intel's vice president of manufacturing development, instructed the reporter on the correct order for connecting the suit components and adding a second pair of gloves to contain skin particles.

Regular paper notebooks were not permitted because they shed microscopic particles; the reporter used a special cleanroom notebook instead.

Conditions inside the fabrication area The main production floor operated under yellow light because other wavelengths can damage chips during manufacturing, Tyler Osborn, Intel's director of advanced packaging technology development, said. Robots transported sealed boxes containing 25 wafers each along overhead tracks, limiting direct human contact with the silicon slices.

Auth stated that a single wafer is valued between $50,000 and $500,000, and that one box therefore represents several million dollars in potential loss if mishandled. Employees said they often identify colleagues by gait because the hooded suits obscure most visual features.