China can now lay groundwork for SOI, says Soitec
Industry at Opportune Time to Benefit from Convergence of Foundries’ Technological Readiness and Growing Industry Support for Chip Designers
SHANGHAI, China — March 19, 2008 — Soitec (Euronext Paris), the world’s leading supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and other engineered substrates, said in a press conference today during Semicon China that growing industry-wide momentum in SOI-based design and manufacturing presents China’s explosive growth chip industry with ideal conditions to add SOI technology to its roadmap.
SOI is used today in a growing number of advanced electronic devices for a wide variety of applications, ranging from automobiles to portable consumer products. SOI-based chips are cost-efficient to manufacture, and designed to be power-efficient and performance-enhancing. The timely convergence of China’s technological readiness and increased industry-wide support for SOI design and manufacturing can facilitate the move to SOI by China’s foundries and fabless companies.
“This is a fortuitous time for China’s semiconductor industry, which has tremendous potential to take advantage of SOI’s unique features. But in order for China to align with industry leaders, foundries and fabless players need to begin laying the groundwork now,” said André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, president and CEO of the Soitec Group.
“As a founding member of the SOI Industry Consortium*, Soitec is working with 21 leading companies to support the acceleration of SOI innovation across a broad range of markets and reducing barriers of adoption. We expect that chip designers and manufacturers in China will be early beneficiaries of this endeavor, and we will move forward together,” Auberton-Hervé said.
As part of its commitment to meeting both existing and expected demand for SOI throughout Asia, Soitec is currently qualifying customers at its new 300-mm fab, known as Pasir Ris 1, built in Singapore to support the rapidly growing Asian market.
Note to editors about SOI: Most chips are fabricated on wafers made of silicon. SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) refers to a special kind of silicon wafer, in which a layer of insulation is added just below the top surface. Leading chip companies are using these SOI wafers to manufacture chips for PCs, game consoles, telecommunications devices, automotive and industrial applications and more. The main reason they choose to manufacture their chips on SOI wafers instead of “bulk” silicon wafers is that the embedded layer of insulation helps keep the electrical current from leaking out of the chip. The result is that these SOI-based chips run up to 30% faster or cut power usage by as much as 50%. Soitec owns a patented process called Smart Cut™, which is used to manufacture most of the SOI wafers in the world.
*www.soiconsortium.org
About the Soitec Group:
The Soitec Group is the world’s leading innovator and provider of the engineered substrate solutions that serve as the foundation for today’s most advanced microelectronic products. The group leverages its proprietary Smart Cut™ technology to engineer new substrate solutions, such as silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, which became the first high-volume application for this proprietary technology. Since then, SOI has emerged as the material platform of the future, enabling the production of higher performing, faster chips that consume less power.
Today, Soitec produces more than 80 percent of the world’s SOI wafers. Headquartered in Bernin, France, with two high-volume fabs on-site, Soitec has offices throughout the United States, Japan and Taiwan, and a new production site in the process of customers’ qualification in Singapore.
Two other divisions, Picogiga International (Les Ulis) and Tracit Technologies (Bernin), complete the Soitec Group. Picogiga focuses on delivering advanced substrates solutions, including III-Vs epiwafers and gallium nitride (GaN)-based wafers, to the compound material world for the manufacture of high-frequency electronics and other optoelectronic devices. Tracit, on the other hand, focuses on thin-film layer transfer technologies used to manufacture advanced substrates for power ICs and microsystems, as well as generic circuit transfer technology for applications such as image sensors and 3D-integration. Shares of the Soitec Group are listed on Euronext Paris.
Soitec, Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On Insulator Technologies.
Contact:
Camille Darnaud-Dufour
Vice President, Communications
Tel (France): +33 (0) 6 79 49 51 43
Email: camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.com