The CSIC’s Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room achieves ISO9001 quality certification

The Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM, CSIC) receives a quality seal for its activities of design, development and production of microelectronic devices in the Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room thanks to the fulfillment of the requirements of the ISO9001 standard. The delivery of the certificate by the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification (AENOR), which was attended by Jordi Martín, director of AENOR in Catalonia; and Laura Villar, business development technician, was held today at IMB-CNM.

This certificate is the most widely used model in national and international customer-supplier relationships, and allows demonstrating that the work performed in the Clean Room complies with the systematization of procedures required by customers.

The awarding of this certificate to the largest R&D&I clean room in micro and nanofabrication at national level puts it on a par in quality with other European clean rooms, such as the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Portugal (INL) or the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and even surpasses them in the ambition of the scope.

ISO9001 represents an internationally recognized quality assurance standard and is often a necessary requirement for customers to be able to market their products to other companies.

The project for the implementation of the standard has involved three interdependent actors: the research center itself, the IMB-CNM; the IMB-CNM Clean Room, a major node of the distributed Unique Science and Technology Infrastructures (ICTS) MICRONANOFABS; and the Economic Interest Grouping D+T Microelectrónica. The project has been coordinated through a Quality Committee created for this purpose.

The committee is formed by the management of the three entities, the director of IMB-CNM, Luis Fonseca; the director of D+T Microelectrónica A.I.E., Manuel Lozano; and the director of the Clean Room, David Quirion. In addition, there are three other people with quality training: the person in charge of quality and continuous improvement of the Clean Room, Ana Sánchez; the person in charge of the quality management system of the Chemical Transducers Group at IMB-CNM, Ferran Vera; and the person in charge of the new quality management system, Daniela Bassignana.

This committee will keep its operation to ensure the maintenance of the quality seal over time.

Quality based on collaboration

As Daniela Bassignana says, this collaboration "has been essential for the clear definition of the strategic, operation and support processes of the quality management system". She also emphasizes that "another key to the success of the project has been the involvement and commitment of the people who will apply the standard in their day-to-day activities".

The director of AENOR in Catalonia, Jordi Martín, affirms that "obtaining ISO9001 certification is a key factor in the continuous improvement of an organization's processes. It supports its commitment to good practices in the eyes of all its stakeholders, improving the organization's reputation. Those who want to be part of the design activities or the development and production of microelectronic devices in the IMB-CNM's Micro and Nanofabrication Clean Room have the added confidence of the most recognized seal".

Luis Fonseca adds that achieving the certificate "is a collective achievement that is a source of great pride and represents a guarantee of quality for complex experimental activities within the research center". He also points out that "although activities related exclusively to scientific research are not directly contemplated within the scope of the quality management system, they will benefit from the natural extension of the quality praxis to broader areas of operation of the Clean Room".

Manuel Lozano points out that, for costumers, "having achieved the certification responds to their growing need to guarantee the quality, traceability and repeatability of their products". Also, internally, "it reinforces the commitment that D+T has with the constant improvement of the activity of the Clean Room and the IMB-CNM".

David Quirion comments that the implementation of the standard "allows the IMB-CNM Clean Room to have an internationally recognized management system". In addition, "it has made possible, among other things, to organize and standardize control procedures, maintenance procedures and records of existing activities, all with the aim of providing a better service to the users who use the Clean Room".

This achievement has been possible thanks to the collaboration between the IMB-CNM Biomedical Applications Group, the Vice Presidency of Innovation and Transfer of the CSIC as a facilitating agent and the company INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, which has provided invaluable material support. It has also counted with the participation of all the D+T and IMB-CNM staff, with the Quality and Innovation Unit of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), through its responsible Cristina Casado; and with the consulting firm ACMS, through Bárbara Soler.