SOI Poised for Further Adoption as Semiconductor Industry Tackles Energy
Conservation and Consumption Challenges
SAN FRANCISCO, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMICON WEST -- Soitec (Euronext
Paris), the world's leading supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers
and other engineered substrates, today announced it is intensifying its
focus to ensure that the low-power advantages of SOI are accessible to
semiconductor companies grappling with a new era where energy consumption
has become a key design criteria. To enable new devices that are more
environmentally friendly, consume less energy and have longer battery
lives, Soitec is reaching out to support customers and design and
manufacturing partners, while continuing its legacy of substrate
innovation.
The SOI ecosystem of industry leaders is accelerating SOI adoption,
particularly within the fabless design community. With power concerns
becoming more critical, companies that have traditionally looked at SOI as
a high-speed logic technology are now increasingly considering adoption due
to its energy consumption advantages over bulk silicon.
"The era where speed alone was paramount to leading-edge semiconductor
manufacturers has been replaced with one where power-related environmental,
energy costs and battery life concerns are also of critical importance,"
said Andre-Jacques Auberton-Herve, president and CEO of Soitec. "Today,
power consumption is of pivotal importance, regardless of whether it's
about reducing the environmental impact and costs from huge energy-hungry
server farms, or simply extending the battery life of an advanced cell
phone. With this fundamental industry shift well underway, interest in
tapping the low-power advantages of SOI are rising. At Soitec, we are
participating and supporting closer industry cooperation, as well as new
designer innovations that are transforming the low-power potential of SOI
into a reality for companies throughout the IC value chain. Construction of
our new Pasir-Ris 1 SOI fab in Singapore also continues on schedule -- so
we can meet future SOI demand."
Due to its performance and power-consumption advantages, SOI, as
measured in revenue, now accounts for more than a third of the 300-mm logic
market and continues to gain acceptance as the foundation for some of
today's most advanced microelectronic products. Recent industry
announcements highlight the emerging momentum around SOI outside of the
ultra-high-speed logic market. Among the most important SOI developments
are the breakthrough embedded memory technologies using SOI, with cost
efficiency of up to 40 percent; and UMC's successful tape out of a test
chip based on its new 65-nm SOI process using ARM SOI libraries. This
successful tape out means fabless design companies can now begin SOI pilot
projects, including those looking to tap the power advantages of SOI for
the portable consumer electronics market. Given its proven speed and
low-power advantages and the burgeoning SOI ecosystem that will help
facilitate adoption, SOI is now set to play an increasingly important role
in enabling new generations of advanced low-power, high-performance
devices.
Editors and analysts interested in learning more about Soitec are
invited to visit the company's booth #5428 located in the North Hall of the
Moscone Center in San Francisco from July 17-19, 2007.
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(TM) 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, along with a
new manufacturing site under construction 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. Both shares and convertible bonds for the
Soitec Group are listed on Euronext Paris. For more information, visit
http://www.soitec.com.
Soitec, Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On
Insulator Technologies
SOURCE Soitec Group
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Related links:
http://www.soitec.com
CONTACT:
Camille Darnaud-Dufour, Vice President,
Communications of Soitec, Mobile (France), +33-6-79-49-51-43,
camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.com; or Kelly Picasso, Sr. Account
Associate of MCA, +1-650-968-8900, ext. 127, kpicasso@mcapr.com,
for Soitec
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