GLOBALFOUNDRIES will be manufacturing devices for STMicroelectronics by using a Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator (FD-SOI) technology in 20 nm and 28 nm nodes. STMicroelectronics, the proprietor of this technology, is a worldwide semiconductor leader providing its customers with a range of electronics applications.
FD-SOI devices with its timely availability and high volume can fulfill the market demand for tablets and smart phones to handle multimedia, attractive graphics and broadband connectivity of high-speed without affecting the service life of the battery.
FD-SOI devices are used to replace the usage of conventional transistors and shrinking geometries that fail to deliver optimal performance without increasing the temperature and draining the service life of the battery. Transistors fully depleted and capable of using low active power, low stand-by power and high peak performance are used to improve the performance of multimedia convergence applications with excellent energy efficiency.
The FD-SOI technology allows STMicroelectronics to deliver devices that are fully depleted very much in advance in comparison with the delivering time of other companies. By July 2012, the 28 nm FD-SOI generation will be ready for prototyping and the 20 nm FD-SOI generation will be ready by 2013.
The FD-SOI sourcing capacity has been increased by STMicroelectronics by complementing the company’s internal manufacturing process in Crolles, France with GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ industrial capacity. STMicroelectronics plans to allow the other partners of GLOBALFOUNDRIES to access the FD-SOI technology in order to allow its partners develop products with advanced technology at the 20 nm and 28 nm nodes.
Joel Hartmann, Corporate VP, Digital Sector and Front End Manufacturing and Process R&D of STMicroelectronics, ensures providing the company’s customers with benefits that include usage of tablets and wireless applications. Philippe Magarshack Corporate VP, Design Enablement and Services, also commented on the significant performance of FD-SOI even at low voltage with high energy efficiency.
Source: http://www.st.com/