Semiconductor Tech Talks - 2022

Every new generation of process advancement, and the new transistor structures that come along with those advancements, offer the promise of better performance, lower power, and reduced area. This is the trend predicted by Moore’s Law. The emergence of FD-SOI, (Fully Depleted - Silicon on Insulator) and its subsequent maturity over the years, has made it one of the seminal process advancements for low power semiconductor design. Although not as prevalent as the mainstream bulk CMOS process, FD-SOI has provided an important set of benefits to semiconductor product designers. These advances intersect with market demands for devices with more intelligence and better connectivity. Envisioning and developing these new products require the support of an entire ecosystem. An ecosystem where an IP vendor, like Mixel, and a semiconductor company, like (NXP), can partner and contribute their skills so that the benefits of technology advances become a reality. This does not just happen. It is important to appreciate the investment necessary to build an ecosystem to support a process like FD-SOI. Although the choice of foundry, process technology, or silicon IP is not a concern of the consumer using such devices, it is of critical concern to those of us who need to build these products.