FD-SOI expands, but is it disruptive?

FD-SOI has less power consumption than FinFETs and suits RF, winning over some in the IoT market.

The ecosystem for fully depleted silicon on insulator or FD-SOI process technology has tipped from a belated technology to a viable alternative to FinFETs for the Internet of Things and automotive markets. To many, the presence of officials from major companies at an industry event signalled a coalescence around the technology.

"I think FD-SOI is gaining momentum. It'll probably take another couple of years but it will gain momentum and be a key technology," Handel Jones, founder and CEO of International Business Strategies, told EE Times.

FD-SOI offers a number of advantages over FinFETs, which while extremely high performance lack cost efficiency. Its substrate is more expensive, but the process offers lower power and better performance in bulk, and is better suited for RF–a key component in IoT. FD-SOI is also easier from a design perspective and allows engineers to tune products post-silicon.

"If Intel, the biggest company in the world, has problems going into a true 14nm that tells you that [the technology] is not that easy," said Dan Hutcheson, CEO and chairman of VLSIresearch, adding that there are a number of business reasons for going the FD-SOI route. "The number 1 reason people [chose FD-SOI] is because design is simpler and time to market is faster as a result – especially if you're a smaller org. I know a lot of people don't like it being a poor man's FinFET, but it really is true."

To read the full article, go to EETimes.

See a comparison table of selected PCB assembly suppliers on GlobalSources.com