More rigorous clean suit protocols began at Intel with the opening of Fab 3 in Livermore, California, in 1973. Gene Flath, who managed wafer fabrication at the first three fabs, recalled the new coverall “bunny” suits receiving a lot of attention for their novelty: “People used to find excuses to visit Fab 3 just so they could put a bunny suit on.” The suits would gradually spread throughout Intel’s other facilities and become the companywide standard by 1980. Their design would be a continuous work in progress, always keeping pace with the increasing intricacy (and commensurately increasing needs for purity) of microprocessors.
