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SOI cost not the whole story, Semico
says
Dylan
McGrath
(05/22/2006 4:43 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188101131
SAN
FRANCISCO — Contrary to popular belief, the growth of silicon-on-insulator (SOI
) will not be limited by the cost of the material, according to a report by
market analyst firm Semico Research Corp.
As semiconductor process technologies move down the nanometer scale,
silicon-on-insulator (SOI ) can actually be less expensive than bulk silicon, and
thus a cost-effective and attractive solution, the report contends.
The prevailing theory has been that the added cost of SOI
has hindered more widespread adoption of the substrate material. But Semico (Phoenix)
says the results of an analyis of the impact of SOI
wafers on the costs of operation and manufacturing as well as the ultimate
end-product cost, found differently.
"On a straight manufacturing cost basis, the 10-15 percent SOI
cost-of-ownership (COO) figure does not tell
the whole story," said Joanne Itow, Semico's managing director of manufacturing, in a
statement. "Moving further into the semiconductor manufacturing process,
looking at the cost of SOI once the wafer is
tested, diced and the good die packaged, the Semico
analysis has found the SOI COO
adds only 4-6 percent to the total manufacturing cost.”
Other factors improving the benefits of SOI
include new design solutions and logic architectures, Semico
said. While sometimes overlooked, the relationship between the performance of
logic and the amount of on-die memory required in support of that logic has
become a growing portion of the die area, Semico
said.
"Use of SOI-enabled memory
optimization tools can increase the benefits of SOI
from breakeven to a cost reduction of over 40 percent, depending on the
product, technology and process complexity," Itow
said.
Dan Tracy, an analyst with the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials
International (SEMI) trade group, said in
January that SOI
adoption expected to grow, especially thin-film technologies. Thin-film SOI
is projected to grow from $263 million in 2005, to $632 million in 2008, he
said, while thick-film SOI growth is expected to be flat, from $84 million in
2005 to $94 million in 2009.
Semico’s recent study, entitled "SOI=Big
ROI," is available for purchase through the firm at a cost of $3,500.
