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SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: SOI Industry Consortium*

Green and Growing

By Horacio Mendez,
Executive Director,
SOI Industry Consortium

 

Despite the crises in the worldwide economy, market opportunities for SOI continue to expand.Those that can play the innovation card this year will be the ones ready with the right new products and technologies when growth returns.

We are continuing in high gear. In meeting with companies across the globe, I’ve witnessed keen interest in the broad cross-section of expertise the Consortium can leverage.

Here’s a recap of some recent activity.

IMEC, a world-leading, independent nanoelectronics research center headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has joined us. IMEC has been active in the field of SOI technologies for more that two decades. The expertise and knowledge they bring to our organization will be exceptionally valuable in maximizing SOI’s capabilities.

As you’ll see elsewhere on this page, we have publicly announced the priorities we set for 2009, planned an exciting “green” initiative, and launched projects concerning FinFETs and IP.

The website is constantly being updated with relevant information, papers, presentations and news.

As always, many thanks to all the team members who are giving so generously of their time and effort. Together, we’re making this happen.

What’s New

Focus ’09: Power Savings & IP

The joint survey we did with the GSA last year clearly indicated that lowering power is a primary driver for designers considering SOI-based solutions. Therefore, our 2009 focus is putting a particular emphasis on IP and outreach efforts highlighting the green, energy-saving advantages of SOI.

Our dedicated IP committee is working hard to close the remaining IP gaps. Concurrently, various members are collaborating to demonstrate the performance of key IP on SOI and solidify the ecosystem around the foundries.

Following on the success of last year’s design clinics in Taiwan and the US, we’ve got three more planned for the US and India. You’ll also find us at strategic industry events.

 

New Members

The SOI Industry Consortium is open to any company, organization or academic institution with an interest in SOI.

See the website for information on how to join: www.soiconsortium.org

Now joining the membership roster is: IMEC

 

 

 

Green Initiative

As indicated in our ’09 plan, the Consortium is increasing the focus on SOI’s power-saving advantages. The power efficiency benefits of SOI are widely valued. However, much of SOI’s current traction is based on the success of designs that leveraged its high-performance advantages.

The power-saving advantages of SOI represent a huge opportunity for us. Given our current market environment, the recent growth of the “green movement”, and the premium now being placed on reducing power consumption in most applications, we can seize this moment to capitalize on SOI’s ongoing record of green, low-power benefits.

SOI is a “green technology”, offering 30-40% savings in semiconductor power consumption compared to traditional approaches. SOI substrates also provide a compelling foundation for producing ultra low-power semiconductor solutions for today’s mobile and power conscious society.

Our members’ expertise and participation will ensure that the pieces are in place and the word gets out.

 

IP Team

The IP team is actively working on contacting IP companies that can support SOI. A list will soon be available on our web site for any potential user.

Two white papers that describe the SOI design process for engineers considering the technology are now in the works. The goal is to put an end to the myth that SOI design is inherently difficult.

Additionally the IP team is working on an “SOI fact sheet”, a basic document to answer the key, fundamental questions about SOI—its advantages and capabilities—for a wide, technical audience.

 

Implementation Guide Chapters

Since last year, we have been rolling out “The SOI Implementation Guide,” a series of white papers and presentations to drive common understanding of the value and challenges of SOI. Most recently we released a series of presentations that are part of a course offered by the Consortium focusing on RF/analog & mixed-signal topics.

The most recent releases include:

• SOI Analog Amplifier Hands-on Design
• Mixed analog-digital functions - (Ultra) Low Power
• Benefits of SOI RF device/circuit integration

A special thanks to Dr. Denis Flandre from the Université Catholique de Louvain for these recent contributions.

If your company is a member of the Consortium, you can get a copy of these guides under the myConsortium header on our website. This is a password-protected area: if you are eligible but don’t yet have a password, use the “contact us” button. Make sure to access to them at “myConsortium” on the web site when you get the alert.

 

FinFET Project

We have recently launched a FinFET-on-SOI technical evaluation project. The goal of the project is to assess and compare SOI and bulk for FinFET architectures.

A multi-company, cross-discipline team will provide an assessment of the challenges of developing and manufacturing FinFETs. The team comprises senior technologists from independent device manufacturers, foundry, equipment manufacturers, research institutes and academia.

The goal is to provide an in-depth understanding of the various tradeoffs and to offer direction in this key technology area.

We are evaluating the technology capabilities and manufacturability from the perspective of technology readiness, variability, complexity comparisons, as well as power and performance comparisons.

On the Website

www.soiconsortium.org

 

Ask Your Question

If you have a question on SOI or the Consortium, ask it here. We’ll do our best to get you a timely and relevant response.

Technology Corner

This new section includes links to articles and publications from leading researchers in the top refereed journals and from the most important industry conferences.

SOI Fundamentals

Methodologies for comparing bulk and SOI process technologies for SoC designs. This chapter of the Consortium’s Implementation Guide is now available to the general public.

Design & IP Corner

This new section, which includes white papers, conference proceedings and relevant articles in the press, focuses on practical SOI design issues.

In the News

The SOI Industry Consortium’s profile is on the rise. Here you’ll find links to articles that cite us in publications such as EETimes, Semiconductor International, Fabtech, EDN and more.

 

 

* Legal Note: The views and opinions expressed by the SOI Industry Consortium through officers in the SOI Industry Consortium or in this presentation or other communication vehicles are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of individual members. Officers of the SOI Industry Consortium speaking on behalf of the Consortium should not be considered to be speaking for the member company or companies they are associated with, but rather as representing the views of the SOI Industry Consortium. Views and opinions are also subject to change without notice, and the SOI Industry Consortium assumes no obligation to update the information in this communication or acc

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