At the recent DATE Conference in Grenoble (DATE is like DAC, but in Europe, alternating yearly between Grenoble and Dresden), STMicroelectronics, CEA-Leti & Mentor Graphics joined forces for a FD-SOI presentation organized by CMP and sponsored by Mentor. Here are some of the highlights (the complete presentations are all available from the CMP website). FD-SOI: …

SiTime, which leverages SOI for high-performance MEMS timing solutions, has entered the smartphone/tablet/mobile app market with the first MEMS oscillator in a chip scale package (CSP). SiTime’s solutions offer area savings of 85%, cut power by 50% and are 15 times more reliable, all of which enable smaller, lower power and longer lasting mobile electronics. …

Hearing the news that GlobalFoundries would be offering two flavors of FD-SOI, ASN asked the company to explain the strategy further. Here are the responses provided by Subi Kengeri, Vice President of Advanced Technology Architecture. What do you see as the FD-SOI benefits for chip designers? Lower SRAM Vmin for retention and lower operating Vmin …

In a recent press release, the SOI wafer leader Soitec said that chips built on its SOI wafers were found in over half of the smartphones and tablets in the market worldwide. 50%? That’s a lot! How do they figure that? The answer: RF. With all the talk right now about FD-SOI for application processors, …

You saw the video of the STMicroelectronics demo at the recent CES in Las Vegas – the one of the ST-Ericsson 28nm FD-SOI NovaThor L8580, right? It’s billed as a 2.5GHz chip – an industry best, but the video showed it clocking at 2.8GHz. Well now the ST-E & ST folks are saying they can …

The YouTube video Introduction to FD-SOI by STMicroelectronics and ST-Ericsson has generated enormous coverage in the press as well as in-depth discussions across various user groups in LinkedIn.  In its first two weeks, it had over 3000 YouTube views, and LinkedIn postings of it generated over 50 Likes and Comments in a single group. As …

In a recent study entitled Economic Impact of the Technology Choices at 28nm/20nm, International Business Strategies (IBS) has found that those companies choosing FD-SOI at 28nm and/or 20nm should benefit from substantial savings in cost-per-die (see figure). For a technology to be utilized in high-volume production, costs must be lower than previous generations of technology. …

In the spring of 2012, STMicroelectronics announced the company would be manufacturing ST-Ericsson’s next-generation (and very successful) NovaThor ARM-based smartphone/tablet processors using 28nm FD-SOI process technology. With first samples coming out this fall, ASN talks to Jean-Marc Chery, Executive Vice President, General Manager Digital Sector, Chief Technology & Manufacturing Officer, STMicroelectronics about the manufacturing process …

A major highlight at this year’s Semicon West in San Francisco was a panel discussion by industry thought-leaders gathered to discuss the current challenges facing the mobile industry.  It was an impressive line-up of key players from the ecosystem at the forefront of fully-depleted, SOI based technologies, including: ARM: Ron Moore – Director of Strategic …

Two big pieces of news have just been announced by STMicroelectronics: to supplement in-house production at Crolles, the company has tapped GlobalFoundries for high-volume production of 28nm then 20nm FD-SOI mobile devices; ST will open access to its FD-SOI technology to GlobalFoundries’ other customers. The high-volume manufacturing will kick off with ST-Ericsson’s ARM-based 28nm NovaThor. …