Power And Performance: GSS Sees SOI Advantages For FinFETs


Are FinFETs better on SOI? In a series of papers, high-profile blogs and subsequent media coverage,Gold Standard Simulations (aka GSS) has indicated that, yes, FinFETs should indeed be better on SOI. To those of us not deeply involved in the research world, much of this may seem to come out of nowhere.  But there’s a lot of history here, and in this blog we’ll take a look at what it’s... » read more

GloFo to Fab 28/20nm FD-SOI for ST; ST Tech Open to GF Customers


Two big pieces of news have recently 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 2... » read more

ST-Ericsson 28nm FD-SOI smartphone SOC, Q3 tape-out (interview)


ASN recently had a chance to talk to ST-Ericsson’s Chief Chip Architect Louis Tannyeres  about the move to 28nm FD-SOI for smartphones and tablet SOCs.  Take-away message:  FD-SOI solves – with less process complexity – scaling, leakage and variability issues to further shrink CMOS technology beyond 28nm. Here's what he said. ~~ [caption id="attachment_441" align="alignleft" wi... » read more

FD-SOI bests FinFETs for mobile multimedia SOCs? ST says yes.


In a recent and excellent article in ASN by Thomas Skotnicki, Director of the Advanced Devices Program at STMicro, he explains in a very clear and accessible way why FD-SOI with ultra-thin Body & Box (UTBB) is a better solution for mobile, multimedia SOCs than FinFETs -- starting at the 28nm node and running clearly through 8nm.  It is based on the paper he presented at the 2011 IEEE SOI C... » read more

CMP, ST et al offer 28nm FD-SOI for prototyping, research


Posted by Adele Hars, Editor-in-Chief, Advanced Substrate News ~  ~ What would a port to 28nm FD-SOI do for your design?  A recent announcement by CMP, STMicroelectronics and Soitec invites you to find out.  Specifically, ST’s CMOS 28nm Fully Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (FD-SOI) process – which uses innovative silicon substrates from Soitec and incorporates robust, compact model... » read more

SOI Conference Shows SOI Driving Key Roadmaps


By Adele Hars The 2011 IEEE SOI Conference, held in Tempe, AZ last week was not one to miss…but I did. Happily, I got the papers right away, along with observations shared by some of the folks who did get there. Highlights include excellent and insightful papers from ST, ARM, IBM, Intel, Leti, Peregrine and GlobalFoundries, plus many more that indicate SOI-based technologies are at th... » read more

Smart Power on SOI


By Adele Hars What if you had to reduce power dissipation by 40x? That's exactly the task that fell to STMicroelectronics, under an EU program called Smart Power Management. At the recent ISPSD (International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs) conference, ST and partners (GE Vingmed Ultrasound and Sintef) presented a paper on how they did it, using ST's latest SOI-based ... » read more

MEMS on SOI – Growing Fast and Faster


By Adele Hars In the latest ASN posting by Dr. Eric Mounier of Yole Developpement, “SOI for MEMS: A Promising Material”, he notes that SOI MEMS is growing at a CAGR (2011-2015) of 15.6%, compared to 8.1% for bulk silicon-based solutions. MEMS designers are doing amazing things on SOI – which would explain that impressive growth rate. [caption id="attachment_12" align="aligncenter... » read more

Betting On 3D


The continuation of Moore’s Law appears less in doubt than ever. Companies such as Intel, ST, AMD (via GlobalFoundries) and IBM are testing FinFETS and ETSOI and work is being done on the back end to ensure that these new structures can be manufactured with sufficient yield. What’s changed, though, is the resistance by other companies to the progression of Moore’s Law. There is no long... » read more

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