FD-SOI Expands, But Is It Disruptive?

Jessica Lipsky, EETimes
4/14/2016 06:36 PM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif.—The ecosystem for fully-depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) process technology has tipped from a too-late technology to a viable alternative to FinFETs for the Internet of Things (IoT) and automotive markets. To many, the presence of officials from major companies at an industry event signaled 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, although extremely high performance, lack cost efficiency. Although the FD-SOI substrate is more expensive, the process offers lower power, 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.

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