技术文章：差异硅源于差异化衬底

There is a consensus that “bleeding edge” technologies, i.e. the continuation of Moore’s law whatever the cost of the technology, is bringing less and less return on investment for most players in the semiconductor industry. In this context there is a critical need for more innovations beyond traditional CMOS scaling. There are many opportunities for innovation in the value chain from semiconductor materials and devices to services, but the simplest one starts with substrates.

人们普遍认为，无论技术成本如何，像摩尔定律这样的“前沿”技术，为半导体行业厂商和投资者带来的投资回报越来越少。 在这种情况下，除了传统的CMOS缩放工艺之外，半导体行业还需要有更多的创新。 从半导体材料和器件到服务的价值链中有许多创新机会，但最简单的是从彻底开始。

Figure 1: Semiconductor value chain from substrate to services.

从衬底到服务的半导体价值链

RF SOI and FD-SOI are great examples of how the industry is pushing differentiation with substrates to develop new standards for RF communication and low power computing. GLOBALFOUNDRIES has been a successful pioneer in this strategy. First, RF SOI has become the de-facto technology for a large number of components of the Front-End Module (FEM) in cellular phones. From almost nothing 10 years ago, today the total market for RF SOI is around 1.5 million wafers (8-inch equivalent). Second, FD-SOI is now the technology of choice for mmWave RF-CMOS connectivity and battery powered devices requiring a very high level of energy efficiency. We will review, in this post, how Soitec is supporting GF with outstanding RF SOI substrate solutions.

RF-SOI和FD-SOI是业界如何通过衬底推动差异化发展以开发RF通信和低功耗计算新标准的很好的例子。 格罗方德（GLOBALFOUNDRIES）一直是这一开发领域的成功先驱。 首先，RF-SOI已成为蜂窝电话中前端模块（FEM）大量组件的实际应用技术。 在10年前，RF-SOI在市场上几乎没有。然而， 今天RF-SOI市场产量约为150万晶片（相当于8英寸）。 其次，FD-SOI已经成为mmWave RF-CMOS连接和高能效电池供电设备的首选技术。下面，我们将回顾一下Soitec如何通过出色的RF-SOI衬底解决方案支持格罗方德。

How SOITEC supports GF with differentiated RF-SOI technology

Soitec如何运用差异化RF-SOI技术帮助格罗方德

5G will rapidly change the way people and objects around the world communicate; GF and Soitec are supporting this change providing innovative technologies that support the evolution towards 5G and its coexistence with other existent and future standards.

5G将迅速改变世界各地人与物的交流方式。格罗方德 和Soitec为这个变革提供创新技术，支持社会技术变革向5G演进，并使这种变革与其他现有和未来标准的共存。 

Different communicating devices (vehicles, smartphones, “things”) RF Front Ends require differentiated technologies that could offer the right cost/performance trade-off facilitating their introduction and adoption. Soitec offers two families of RF SOI substrates: HR-SOI using a high resistivity base substrate and RF Enhanced Signal Integrity TM (RFeSI) SOI which adds a trap rich layer on top of the high resistivity base helping deliver on stringent linearity requirements – both of which are compatible with standard CMOS processes and foundries.

不同的通信设备如汽车、智能手机和其他设备，它们的RF前端需要差异化的技术。这些技术可以提供合适的成本和性能权衡，从而促进其引入和采用。 Soitec提供两类RF-SOI衬底，一类是HR-SOI，该技术采用高电阻率基础衬底；另一类是RF增强信号完整性TM（RFeSI）SOI，它在高电阻率基础上增加了富陷阱层，有助于满足严格的线性要求。这两类技术都与标准CMOS工艺和代工厂兼容。

These two families of substrates are available in 200 and 300 mm diameters and offer different advantages in terms of linearity, insertion loss, isolation, noise figure and other key specifications and therefore can be used to design and manufacture different blocks and functions in the RF Front End. The examples here below are given as reference only as integration strategy differs largely among different RF Front End solutions providers.

这两种衬底系列有直径200mm和300 mm，在线性度，插入损耗，隔离，噪声系数和其他关键规格方面具有不同的优势，因此,它们可用于设计和制造RF前端的不同模块和功能。由于集成策略在不同的RF前端解决方案提供商之间存在很大差异，在此本文列出一些参考示例供大家参考

•Antenna tuners, which require very high linearity are typically implemented on RFeSI substrates

•Receiver/ Transmitter switches requiring good linearity, low insertion loss, high isolation and high integration level can be manufactured on HR-SOI and/or RFeSI substrates

•Low noise amplifiers (LNA) on the receive path typically implemented in technology nodes below 90nmare commonly manufactured on 300 mm HR SOI wafers and if integrated with switches and other supporting blocks in 300 mm RFeSI ones.

•Power amplifiers could be fully integrated in 300 mm RFeSi substrates with switches and LNAs for connectivity, IoT and 3G/early 4G cellular applications

•天线调谐器：主要应用于RFeSI衬底上，需要高线性度

•接收器/发送器开关： 可在HR-SOI和RFeSI衬底上实现生产，要求具备良好线性度，低插入损耗，高隔离度和高集成度特性

•接收路径上的低噪声放大器（LNA）: 如果与300 mm RFeSI晶圆中的开关和其他支撑块集成在一起, 通常可在在90nma以下的技术节点和300 mm HR-SOI晶圆上实现生产和制造

•功率放大器：可完全集成在300 mm RFeSi衬底中，为连接，物联网和3G /早期4G蜂窝应用提供交换机和LNA

Thanks to a long-term strategic partnership GF and Soitec have been timely delivering products tailored to address the needs of a very demanding RF Front End market in continuous evolution.  This partnership extends in many fields including engineering and manufacturing, securing state of the art performance in high volume production.

由于格罗方德和Soitec建立了长期的战略合作伙伴关系，双方能够及时为市场提供量身定制的产品，以满足不断发展的RF前端市场需求。Soitec和格罗方德的合作涉及许多领域，包括工程和制造领域，确保了产品大批量生产的最先进性能。

Soitec is integrated into GF’s roadmap thanks to a shared vision of the market evolution. In the most recent example, GF’s next generation mobile and 5G RF Front End 8SW technology was designed to fully exploit the benefits offered by Soitec’s products.

基于市场发展的共同愿景，Soitec已融入格罗方德的发展路线图中。近期，格罗方德的下一代移动和5G RF前端8SW技术旨在充分开发Soitec产品的优势。

In a semiconductor world where everybody is looking for differentiation, RF SOI and FD-SOI represent unique platforms delivering major advantages. RF SOI value is now fully recognized. It has been adopted by most of the players in the cellular FEM business. It will see continued growth with the increased complexity of radios at 4 and 5G. Soitec is committed to serve this industry with the right level of capacity and quality.

在半导体行业，每个人都在寻求差异化发展。RF-SOI和FD-SOI代表了提供主要优势的独特平台。 RF-SOI的市场价值已经被市场完全认可。它已经广泛应用于基于FEM的蜂窝业务。随着4G和5G发展复杂性的增加，它将继续增长。 Soitec致力于以适当的产能和质量服务于该行业。

In our next post we will review how Soitec is supporting GF with outstanding FD-SOI substrate solutions.

在下一篇文章中，我们将回顾Soitec如何通过出色的FD-SOI衬底解决方案支持格罗方德。

About Author

关于作者

Manuel Sellier

Manuel Sellier is Soitec’s product marketing manager, responsible for defining the business plans, marketing strategies, and design specifications for the fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI), photonics-SOI, and imager-SOI product lines. Before joining Soitec, he worked for STMicroelectronics, initially as a digital designer covering advanced signoff solutions for high-performance application processors. He earned his Ph.D. degree in the modeling and circuit simulation of advanced metal–oxide–semiconductor transistors (FD-SOI and fin field-effect transistors). He holds several patents in various fields of engineering and has published a wide variety of papers in journals and at international conferences.

Manuel Sellier是Soitec公司的产品营销经理，负责制定全耗尽绝缘硅（FD-SOI），光电-SOI和imager-SOI产品线业务计划，营销策略和设计规范。 在加入Soitec之前，他曾就职于意法半导体，担任数字设计师，负责高性能应用处理器的高级签核解决方案。 他获得了先进金属氧化物半导体晶体管（FD-SOI和鳍式场效应晶体管FINFET）的建模和电路仿真程度领域的博士学位。他在很多工程领域拥有多项专利，并在各类期刊和国际会议上广泛发表论文。