DARPA reports that a team of researchers at the University of Southern California and Columbia University has achieved output power levels of nearly 0.5W at 45 GHz with a 45nm SOI CMOS chip. This world record result for CMOS-based power amplifiers doubles output power compared to the next best reported CMOS millimeter-wave power amplifier. The …

Specialty foundry Altis Semiconductor will be a foundry partner for the IBM 180nm SOI technology. ALTIS will deliver high volume products starting Q2 2013 and will secure capacity increase for 2014 and beyond to address the IBM forecasted demand.  This foundry agreement addresses the next generation of consumer products, including as an example, the RF/SOI …

Peregrine has announced the latest version of UltraCMOS®  process technology—Semiconductor Technology Platform 8 (STeP8), which the company says enables unmatched performance in RF Front End ICs. STeP8 technology shows a 36% improvement in Ron Coff  performance over STeP5 technology announced just one year ago—dramatically improving the linearity, insertion loss, and isolation capabilities of Peregrine’s RFIC …

Specialty foundry TowerJazz says its latest RF SOI technology offers the industry’s best figure of merit for antenna switch and antenna tuning applications with Ron-Coff of only 217fs. The technology is driving FEM market share, quickly replacing GaAs implementations and has already been adopted by multiple customers worldwide with over 50 separate designs taped-in with …

RDA Microelectronics has begun volume shipments of its RDALN16 GPS LNA for use in Samsung’s 3G handsets deployed in Europe and emerging markets worldwide, such as South America. Developed on SOI, RDA’s GPS LNA is a high gain, low noise, small size amplifier ideally suited for GPS, Galileo and GLONASS applications in 2G and 3G …

Skyworks announced that its industry-leading Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) switching technology is now being used by European, Japanese, Korean and North American car manufacturers for advanced infotainment systems. Specifically, Skyworks’ solid state technology is enabling seamless low noise and broadband switching between audio, Blu-ray/DVD, navigation, cell phone and vehicle security display inputs as well as a variety …

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, …

The 2013 Common Platform Technology Forum showcased “the latest technological advances being delivered to the world’s leading electronics companies,” so of course SOI-based topics were well-represented. Happily, those of us who weren’t able to get over to Silicon Valley were able to attend “virtually” via a live stream (which is now reposted – click here …

Following the recent news that Soitec has more than doubled production of bonded silicon-on-sapphire (BSOS) substrates (a flavor of SOI) to meet increased demand from its strategic partner, Peregrine Semiconductor, MagnaChip has expanded production of Peregrine’s STeP5 UltraCMOS® technology-based RFIC product line. Peregrine and MagnaChip announced the final qualification and high-volume production ramp of the …

The CEO of TowerJazz recently told analysts that in 2012, the company saw “a large amount of SOI design activity”, which he says will fuel revenue growth in 2013. Smart phone antenna switches that handle 8 to 14 different bands are moving from gallium arsenide to SOI, he explained.