Soitec and ASM produce SiGe on insulator wafers
Tailored for both partially depleted and fully depleted applications, these SGOI wafers should enable the semiconductor industry to improve device performance, while shrinking critical dimensions and increasing chip density.
The partnership combines Soitec s Smart Cut technology for fabricating SOI wafers with ASM s epitaxial growth technology.
Soitec s subsequent generations of strained silicon solutions will include SGOI with higher Ge content, strained silicon without the SiGe template layer, as well as germanium-on-insulator. These will all be developed for the 45 nm technology node and beyond.
Initiated in May of this year, the Soitec/ASM partnership is now focused on fine-tuning its strained SOI processes to optimize substrate performance, boost productivity and maximize cost efficiency, thus accelerating time-to-market for a complete industrialized solution for 200-mm strained SOI wafers and, ultimately, 300-mm wafers.
Soitec and ASM are operating in a "virtual fab" mode, processing wafers at both company sites. Teams from both companies have joined forces to fine-tune the epitaxial processes and optimize the production process for high-volume fabrication.
Once the epitaxial equipment is installed and the technology is perfected, high-volume production will commence at Soitec s facility in Bernin, France.
"The potential to reproducibly deliver fully relaxed SGOI highlights the power of Smart Cut as an industrial tool to engineer substrates tailored to the industry s changing needs," said Soitec s CTO Carlos Mazure.
"Smart Cut has the flexibility to follow the industry s constant evolving requirements. Soitec is creating an extendible roadmap that will ensure technology continuity from today s SOI solutions through the most advanced engineered substrates for future technology nodes."
Arthur del Prado, CEO of ASM International, said "[The partership] is a unique opportunity to accelerate the commercialization of SGOI as well as benefit the semiconductor industry at large with cutting-edge technology that will address many of the advanced device performance challenges currently facing our industry roadmap."
