Do you think of dust as something you clear off your car dash? Or does it make you think of thousands of hours of scientific research ruined? If you use pharmaceuticals, special glass lenses or even a smartphone, you use things made in particle-free rooms....

Precise manufacturing requires the use of cleanroom facilities. Standards, design, and testing methods keep tiny particulate invaders from destroying microscopic landscapes. A technician arrives at the Nikon camera manufacturing facility near Bangkok. After...