UMC to Develop 65nm BSI CMOS Image Sensor Process with STMicroelectronics

Backside illumination process extends upon existing successful FSI collaboration

Hsinchu, Taiwan, September 6, 2012 - United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced a collaborative effort with STMicroelectronics for 65nm CMOS image sensor technology using backside illumination (BSI). The partnership follows upon the two companies’ success to manufacture ST's front-side illumination (FSI) processes at UMC’s 300mm Fab 12i in Singapore. The 1.1um pixel BSI process, which will also be developed at Fab12i, will be available as an open platform for customers to power future smartphone generations that require high resolution and picture quality (>10MP).

Po-Wen Yen, Senior Vice president of 12-inch Operations at UMC said, “We are happy to extend our relationship with our long-time partner STMicroelectronics through this co-development effort. This agreement is consistent with UMC’s open collaboration strategy to deliver customer-driven foundry solutions to address ever evolving market requirements. We look forward to further strengthening our comprehensive technology portfolio with this CIS BSI process.”

UMC’s strong competence in the CIS field includes existing CIS solutions for both 8" and 12" manufacturing to fulfill diversified market needs. The development of this newest 65nm CIS technology will capitalize on the long lifetime expectancy of the BSI process, which in addition to serving today’s applications, is expected to be adopted for automotive and industrial fields in the coming years. The 65nm BSI process, targeted for fast-growing applications such as smartphone, tablet, high-end surveillance, and DSC/DSLR, will be available through a licensing agreement with ST.

“ST’s previous successes in imaging technologies with UMC gives us great confidence in the development of this next-generation image-sensor process technology with UMC,” said Eric Aussedat, Corporate Vice President Imaging, Bi-CMOS, ASIC and Silicon Photonics Group. ”Our joint experience will enable ST to offer a state-of-the-art back-side illumination process to support all the applications and markets that we want to address.”  

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced technology and manufacturing for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC’s customer-driven foundry solutions allow chip designers to leverage the company’s leading-edge processes, which include 28nm poly-SiON and gate-last High-K/Metal Gate technology, mixed signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i. Fab 12A consists of Phases 1-4 which are in production for customer products down to 28nm. Construction is underway for Phases 5&6, with future plans for Phases 7&8. The company employs over 13,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the  United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.