How big is a micron?

In the world of cleanrooms, we are used to talking about microns. If you ask the question "how big is a micron?" in our office, you will get the automatic response of, "a micron is one thousandth of a millimetre."

We know that its SI symbol is µm, that 1 micron can be written 10-6 and that you are allowed no more than 102,000 particles of size 0.3µm in an ISO Class 6 Cleanroom.

But how often do we actually think about how small a micron actually is? Take a look at the diagram to find out.

Given this microscopic level of environmental control, a classified clean environment can be a huge driver for creating a repeatable, mission critical environment.