Trace Metals Cleanrooms

Accurate chemical analysis of inorganic elements and their species at ultra-trace concentrations is essential for understanding and modeling environmental systems and determining health effects.

In order to maintain sample integrity and prevent contamination during sample preparation or analysis, a high purity cleanroom or clean zone is required. Proper design, construction, use, and maintenance of a trace element clean room are necessary to achieve a high cleanliness environment, but guidelines and protocols specific to trace element cleanrooms are not available in federal or international cleanroom standards or in published literature.

Several design options are possible depending on technical factors such as the elements being analyzed and the sample preparation and analysis methods used, and non-technical factors such as the number of samples and analysts