Europe teams on next generation FD-SOI technology

CEA, Soitec, GlobalFoundries and STMicroelectronics are working together on the industry’s next generation roadmap for FD-SOI (fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) technology ready for 6G designs.

Research groups CEA and Soitec are based in France, while the ST fab in Crolles in France uses FD-SOI manufacturing at 28nm. GF has a key fab in Dresden, Germany, using the technology at 22nm with the 22FDX process, also used by ST.

Research lab CEA-Leti in France says the technology can be extended down below 10nm, which would be a key target for the technology roadmap.

鲍威较低的FD-SOI提供显著的好处r consumption as well as easier integration of additional features such as connectivity and security, a key feature for automotive, IoT and mobile applications.

FD-SOI is an inherently planar process technology that can reduce silicon geometries while simplifying the manufacturing process. It uses an ultra-thin layer of insulator, the buried oxide, on top of the base silicon. A very thin silicon film then implements the transistor channel with no need to dope the channel.

This improves the transistor electrostatic characteristics compared to conventional bulk technology and lowers the parasitic capacitance between the source and the drain, reducing the active power consumption. It also confines the electrons flowing from the source to the drain, reducing leakage currents.