Soitec installs toolsets for SSOI production
SGOI production is due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2004. When at full capacity, the new line will run more than 60,000 200 mm-equivalent wafer starts per year.
With this investment, Soitec is supporting the industrialization of this new material and confirming its ability to provide engineered SOI products that are both commercially viable for high volumes and scalable for future technology generations.
"Currently, strained SOI appears to offer the greatest potential for improving the performance of ICs with 65-nm and below design rules," said Andre Auberton-Herve, Soitec’s president and CEO. "Adding these new capabilities, particularly the ability to perform the epitaxy process in our own production facility, will help ensure that we can rapidly deliver volume quantities of high-quality strained SOI wafers, to be in line with our customers demand."
The development of the required epitaxial processes for the various new SOI technologies relies on expertise gained through Soitec s partnership with ASM International, a manufacturer of tools for Si and SiGe epitaxy. Soitec is focusing on fine-tuning the epitaxial processes to optimize performance, boost productivity and maximize cost efficiency, accelerating time-to-market for a fully industrialized sSOI solution for 200-mm and, ultimately, 300-mm wafers.
