Self-Supporting Flat Cable for Semiconductor Cleanrooms

Semiconductor wafer handlers and atmospheric transport systems operate in environments where particle contamination is measured in particles per cubic meter. Every cable in the system is a potential contamination source — through abrasion of the jacket, through particulate shed from support guides, and through electrostatic attraction of ambient particles to cable surfaces. Junkosha's self-supporting flat cable eliminates the guide requirement entirely, removing one contamination source at its root.\n\nThe cable achieves self-support through a porous PTFE composite jacket that provides the structural rigidity to span unsupported lengths up to 1.5 meters without sagging into contact with guide surfaces. The PTFE material has inherently low particle generation under flexion — Junkosha's durability test logged over 27 million flex cycles without jacket failure or particulate exceedance.\n\nThe design targets atmospheric pressure robot stages used in wafer transfer between process tools, where existing guided cable systems require periodic cleaning and guide replacement. Eliminating the guide reduces maintenance intervals and removes a mechanical failure mode.\n\nConnector pitch and cable width are designed to interface with standard semiconductor automation connection systems. The cable is cleanroom-packaged and certified to cleanroom handling standards.\n\nKoto Electronics supplies the full Junkosha EHF semiconductor cable series in Israel, including EHF-04 (low particulation) and this new self-supporting variant. Available for evaluation — contact us for technical data and pricing.