A number of conditions have come together over the last ten years that have significantly advanced the state of the art in cleaning technology. The semiconductor industry has reduced feature size to the sub-100-nanometer scale, ultra-low particle counting techniques have pushed the boundaries of cleanliness for low backgrounds, and emissions regulations have become very stringent. These and other circumstances have conspired to drive substantial changes in cleaning technology, equipment, and the industries involved. In this talk, we shall examine the changes in cleanliness requirements, the concomitant changes in cleaning technology and how these changes benefit vacuum technology and those technologies that are of importance to the members of the AVS.