Look for some breakthrough FD-SOI and other excellent SOI-based papers coming out of the 2013 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Kyoto (June 10-14). By way of explanation, VSLI comprises two symposia: one on Technology; one on Circuits. However, papers that are relevant to both are presented in “Jumbo Joint Focus” sessions. Here’s a …

IEEE SOI-3D-Subthreshold Microelectronics Technology Unified Conference Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa, Monterey, California October 7th thru 10th, 2013 In 2013, an exciting new event named IEEE S3S will take place in Monterey, CA. This industry-wide event is founded upon the co-location of two IEEE conferences that have been at the leading edge of CMOS …

Fully-depleted transistor technologies, both planar and fin-type, are now in the mainstream for product designs. One of the many interesting topics in the new 3D FinFET technology is the approach to isolation. In this article, key elements that differentiate junction-isolated (bulk) and dielectric-isolated (SOI) FinFET transistors are discussed, encompassing aspects of process integration, device design, …

FinFET technology promises continued scaling of CMOS technology via the potential to reduce (deleterious) short- channel effects. Realization of this potential is highly dependent on the ideality of the fin structure and, in particular, the uniformity of fin width and impurity doping. The fin isolation technology has a strong impact on within-fin uniformity and variability, …

Work at Leti shows that strain is an effective booster for high-performance at future nodes. The outstanding electrostatic performance already reported for planar FD-SOI technology can be improved by the use of ION boosters in order to target-high performance applications, as already demonstrated in the past. As illustrated in Figure 1, strain can be incorporated …

FinFET and FD-SOI transistors look different but share a common principal that allows MOSFETs to be scalable to 10nm gate length. The good, old MOSFET is nearing its limits. Scaling issues and dopant-induced variations are leading to high leakage (Ioff) and supply voltage (Vdd),  resulting in excessive  power consumption and design costs. While these challenges …

Want to learn first-hand what’s going on in the world of FD-SOI? (aka Fully-Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator) The SOI Industry Consortium, CEA-Leti and Soitec are organizing the 6th edition of the Fully Depleted Workshop. Presentations will be given by experts from ST, ARM, IBM, Leti, UCBerkeley, Soitec, Accelicon & the SOI Consortium. It’s a full-day event at …

Highlights from the IEEE 2011 SOI Conference include presentations by ST, ARM, IBM, Intel, Leti, Peregrine, GlobalFoundries and more. The 2011 IEEE SOI Conference, held in Tempe, AZ this past October was not one to miss. Highlights include excellent and insightful papers from ST, ARM, IBM, Intel, Leti, Peregrine and GlobalFoundries, plus many more that …

SOI is at the heart of silicon photonics. Here’s an overview of past, present and future trends. The existence of Silicon Photonics owes much to serendipity. During the early years of the development of SOI wafer technology probably nobody anticipated that SOI would be a perfect medium for short distance transmission and modulation of light …

Transferring a processed (or partially processed) layer of circuits from one wafer onto another enables innovative new solutions for BSI, MEMS, RF, 3D and more. Smart Stacking™ is Soitec’s wafer-to-wafer stacking technology platform for partially or fully processed wafers (see Figure 1). It enables the transfer of very thin processed layers in a high-volume production …