The Soitec Group (Euronext
Paris), the world's leading supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and other
engineered substrates for the microelectronics industry, announced today its
strategy for solving technology challenges in the growing wafer-level 3D integration
market with a family of proven processes and engineered substrates. The company
has the combination of core technology know-how in wafer bonding and stacking,
manufacturing infrastructure and high-volume experience, as well as strong IP
to develop the building blocks required for wafer-level 3D integration. Soitec's
3D technology strategy is built on three pillars: Low-temperature Smart Cut(TM)
technology, Smart Stacking(TM) technology and metal-to-metal direct bonding,
currently in development.
"3D integration and wafer-level packaging technologies are promising and
fast-growing segments of tomorrow's semiconductor industry. We expect 3D integrated
semiconductors to grow at a CAGR of 50 to 60% during the period 2008 to 2015,
mainly driven by memories, image sensors, MEMS, analog and CMOS logic applications,"
said Jerome Baron, principal analyst at Yole Developpement. "Despite the
current economic downturn, the worldwide R&D activities linked to 3D integration
innovation have reached unprecedented levels."
"We are working on making 3D technologies feasible and cost effective with
an extensive and flexible offer. At the wafer level, both our Smart Stacking
and Smart Cut technologies add significant value to 3D integration," said
Andre-Jacques Auberton-Herve, president of the Soitec Group. "And when
SOI wafers are used for CMOS processing, as demonstrated with imagers, end products
are benefiting from higher yields and improved reliability."
Smart Stacking technology enables wafer-to-wafer level stacking of partially
or fully processed circuits. The technique uses low-temperature oxide-oxide
molecular bonding with specific surface conditioning, and high-precision wafer
thinning. The low-stress wafer bonding process remains compatible with future
requirements for submicron alignment accuracy. This technology is adapted for
advanced semiconductor applications such as Back-Side Illumination (BSI) image
sensors as well as via last 3D integration approaches. Using SOI as starting
material, Soitec's technologies allow the successful stacking of extra-thin
layers needed to achieve the highest through-silicon-via (TSV) interconnect
densities.
Soitec's low-temperature Smart Cut process uses oxide-oxide molecular bonding
and atomic-level cleaving to transfer mono-crystalline silicon films as thin
as 0.1 micron onto partially or fully processed wafers. On this new material
layer, a second level of devices can be processed and this integration can be
repeated in an iterative mode. Transferring an extremely thin layer enables
higher interconnect density, higher signal throughput and simpler TSV processing.
Benefits include increased computing bandwidth, lower overall manufacturing
cost, and power savings due to the reduced wiring distance between connected
devices. This final benefit is well suited for producing advanced memory or
CMOS logic 3D IC systems.
Additionally, Soitec's R&D work in metal-to-metal bonding in partnership
with CEA/Leti (the Electronics and Information Technology Laboratory of the
French Atomic Energy Commission) plays a key role in the company's 3D integration
strategy. This approach presents the advantages of applying no additional pressure
on the bonding stack and a lower thermal budget to guard against distortion
and misalignment. The main application is in creating interconnections in the
3D stack during bonding.
At SEMICON West, July 14-16 in San Francisco, visit Soitec in booth #5448 in
North Hall.