Strong interest in SOI for low power design

SAN JOSE, USA: The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), an organization focused on accelerating the growth of the global semiconductor industry, and the SOI Industry Consortium, a group of leading companies throughout the electronics industry focused on accelerating silicon-on-insulator (SOI) innovation into broad markets, jointly announced the completion of a global study focused on SOI.

Over 100 semiconductor companies involved in the design of integrated circuits responded to the survey about their needs and perceptions of SOI. Eighty-seven percent of respondents indicated that they are interested in evaluating or are already using SOI, particularly for power savings at mainstream technology nodes starting with 90nm.

The survey also confirms the need to educate the market on available solutions, methodology and training across the global ecosystem, points that are being addressed by the SOI Industry Consortium.

“We are pleased to field the study which will gauge perceptions of semiconductor companies on SOI technology,” said Jodi Shelton, GSA co-founder and executive director. “The collaboration on this survey with the SOI Industry Consortium provides us with a platform from which we can determine industry education for the global community on SOI potential alternatives and benefits.”

“The results of the study show that there is an interest in SOI throughout the greater chip design, manufacturing and electronics community,” notes Horacio Mendez, executive director of the SOI Industry Consortium. “Respondents indicate that one of the main reasons they’re looking at SOI is to solve low-power challenges.”

The SOI study was delivered online to global semiconductor companies and completed in April 2008. A full report will be available on the GSA and the SOI Industry Consortium Web sites, respective by June 16, 2008.