Committed to semiconductor innovation for more than 20 years, Soitec contributes to China

In recent years, driven by the dual benefits of emerging technology market trends and China's policy support, the development of China's semiconductor industry has reached an unprecedented height. China, the world's largest SOI market, will become a major growth area for the value chain of the electronics industry, including semiconductors. Coupled with the booming application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and 5G, the need for chip design on substrates has begun to become popular. Just like the production of fine wine requires a good origin and soil, semiconductors also need excellent substrates.

French "substrate optimization" giant Soitec has been deeply involved in the field of semiconductor innovation for 25 years. Soitec is willing to work with the Chinese industry to build a strong local chip ecosystem and promote China to become a leader in the global semiconductor industry. Taking advantage of the China (Chengdu) Electronic Information Expo, Dr. Luis Andia, Soitec RF-SOI Senior Business Development Manager, Mr. Chen Wenhong, Soitec China Sales Director, and Ms. Cherry Chiang, Soitec Taiwan and Southeast Asia Regional Customer Group Manager, accepted an interview with the Semiconductor Industry Observer reporter. The focus was on discussing Soitec's market layout and strategic planning in China.

From left to right: Mr. Wenhong Chen, Sales Director of Soitec China, Dr. Luis Andia, Senior Business Development Manager of Soitec RF-SOI, and Ms. Cherry Chiang, Account Manager of Soitec Taiwan and Southeast Asia

As a leader in the design and production of innovative semiconductor materials, Soitec launched the Smart CutTM technology in 1991. Soitec was officially established in 1992, and established the Benin Phase I Factory in 1999 and Benin Phase II Factory in 2002 respectively. In 2008, it established a factory in Singapore to produce 300 mm wafers. In 2014, it produced 200 mm wafers with its production partners in China. Soitec is the largest manufacturer of optimized substrates.

Soitec History Overview

Soitec said that Soitec has three core technologies and professional engineering materials to ensure the optimization of substrates. One is the most famous Smart CutTM technology, which is also the company's main technology; the other is epitaxial technology. At present, Soitec has expanded its business to compound semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride; the last one is smart stacking technology. As mobile phones become more and more complex and the density of components increases, smart stacking is a good choice.

Soitec interviewees also said that Soitec's full range of optimized substrate SOI products covers multiple fields and application modes, focusing on four major end markets, including cloud and infrastructure, smartphones, automobiles and the Internet of Things:

Soitec's full range of optimized substrates covers multiple fields and application modes

• FD SOI: Through simple analog/RF integration, it can be flexibly used for high-performance and low-power digital computing. It is mainly used in smart phones, Internet of Things, 5G, automobiles and other application fields that require high reliability, high integration, low power consumption and low cost.

  
  

• RF SOI: Applied to RF front-end modules, it has become the best solution for switches and antenna tuners in smartphones.

  
  

• Power SOI: Dedicated to intelligent power conversion circuits, mainly used in high-reliability and high-performance scenarios such as automobiles, industry, and consumer appliances.

• Silicon photonics SOI: used in optical communication fields such as data centers and cloud computing.

• Image sensor SOI: meeting the requirements of next-generation image sensors.

• Filter POI: A new piezoelectric substrate for filters.

  
  

• Gallium Nitride: used in RF 5G and power components

  
  

In recent years, it is precisely because of the breakthrough progress made in FD-SOI substrate materials, especially the application of ultra-thin BOX (20nm level) and ultra-thin top silicon (10nm level) substrates, that nano-level FD-SOI CMOS has developed rapidly. Soitec is the first company (in 2013) to achieve mature mass production of FD-SOI substrates, and is currently the main supplier of FD-SOI substrates. The FD-SOI technology provided by Soitec is currently available in many foundries and applied to a variety of different process nodes. It provides a unique platform that can integrate multiple functions while ensuring low energy consumption of mobile device infrastructure. FD-SOI can integrate 5G transceivers into the platform and also achieve low energy consumption.

Many companies design based on FD-SOI technology

In addition to SOI, Soitec is also focusing on the new material GaN. In order to enhance the advantages of its optimized substrate product portfolio of gallium nitride materials, Soitec acquired EpiGaN, Europe's leading supplier of gallium nitride epitaxial silicon wafer materials, in May this year. The acquisition of EpiGaN further expands and complements Soitec's silicon product portfolio, creating new process solutions for RF, 5G and power systems, and increasing efficiency for users. Given the application of GaN in power transistor design, the acquisition of EpiGaN will also create new growth space for Soitec's existing Power-SOI products.

Soitec has also honed its Smart CutTM process, which can now be used to transfer a thin layer of crystalline material from a GaN or InP donor substrate to another to produce cost-effective compound semiconductor wafers.

Soitec does not intend to stop at gallium nitride materials. According to Soitec, Soitec has been paying attention to the business opportunities of silicon carbide for a long time. In fact, Soitec has been planning to develop it since 2005, but the supply of silicon carbide is a huge challenge. However, through the Smart CutTM process, we can cut silicon carbide crystals into thin layers and transfer them to the (acceptor) substrate, thereby generating a larger supply. Therefore, Soitec attaches great importance to the silicon carbide project.

According to Deloitte of Tsinghua University, China has invested more than US$24 billion in the infrastructure of 5G networks, and its investment in artificial intelligence accounts for nearly 60% of the global total. In terms of 5G, China has already made 5G a national strategy. In March 2017, 5G was officially written into the government work report, aiming to achieve full leadership from 3G following 4G to the 5G era. According to data from the China Software Industry Association, the semiconductor industry target for 2030 is set at US$305 billion in output to meet 80% of domestic demand. By 2020, the growth rate of China's semiconductor industry will reach 20%.

China is the world's largest wireless communications market, and Soitec particularly values ​​the market development prospects in China. For more than a decade, Soitec has been a steadfast partner of the Chinese semiconductor industry.

• Since Soitec established cooperation with Chinese universities and R&D institutions in 2007;

• In 2010, we started cooperation with foundry companies;

• In 2014, Soitec and Shanghai Simgui Technology Co., Ltd. (Simgui), a leading Chinese silicon-based semiconductor company, entered into a strategic partnership and signed a licensing and technology transfer agreement for 200mm SOI wafers for the RF and power semiconductor markets.

• In 2015, the first 200-mm RF-SOI production line was put into operation. To date, Simgui Technology has produced 200,000 200-mm SOI wafers based on Smart Cut™ technology.

• In 2016, Shanghai Silicon Industry Investment Co., Ltd. invested in Soitec;

• In February 2019, the two companies announced a strengthened partnership, with Simgui Technology responsible for expanding SOI wafer production (annual output increased to 360,000 pieces) and ensuring high-quality production, while Soitec will be responsible for business development, sales, R&D and customer support;

• To date, Simgui Technology's production line has been recognized by many major domestic and foreign customers, and Soitec has always maintained a close cooperative relationship with Shanghai Simgui Technology Co., Ltd.

AI and 5G are at the core of the next human development, and optimized substrates play a key role in promoting the development of new technologies. In 2018, Soitec became the first material supplier to join the TD-LTE Global Development Initiative (GTI). The TD-LTE Global Development Initiative is a leading global cooperation platform that brings together major mobile network operators and chip manufacturers to jointly promote TD-LTE technology and help it develop into a global 5G standard. Soitec is also actively working with partners in the ecosystem to explore how to apply optimized substrates to achieve the best RF performance (data rate) required by 5G networks while minimizing cost and power consumption. In addition, Soitec RF-SOI and FD-SOI products are widely used in sub-6GHz and millimeter wave solutions. RF-SOI is currently 100% used in RF front-end modules of smartphones. It is the industry standard for antenna switches, tuners and low-noise amplifiers. Soitec is using SOI technology to promote the development of equipment and base stations.

Optimized substrates for a 5G connected world

China Mobile 5G Joint Innovation Center is an international alliance dedicated to developing 5G communication solutions for China. Soitec will bring to China Mobile 5G Joint Innovation Center a long-established global network of cooperation with fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, system-level suppliers, IDMs (integrated device manufacturers), R&D/innovation centers, universities and industry associations. Silicon-based and non-silicon-based optimized substrates play a vital role in the large-scale deployment of 5G mobile communications in areas such as autonomous vehicles, industrial connectivity and virtual reality (VR).