This SOI Designer News Letter highlights what was new in the SOI world within the 4 last months as identified by D&R.

It aims at creating a live worldwide SOI Ecosystem, attracting more and more FD-SOI designers and thus triggering new successful Asic / SoC designs on this technology.

In this report, the first section is dedicated to News that highlights recent SoC or design platform exhibiting the advantages of this technology. In a second part recent scientific contributions are listed. In a last part the key ingredient for Designers mainly the market available IP are reported.

All Data reported here can be found at https://www.soi-forum.com/

FD-SOI for a better Energy Efficiency • Harnessing Adaptative Body Bias for optimized performance in 22FDX • Empower Ultra-low-power MCU mode with low-quiescent DC/DC on 22FDX • Enabling Audio low latency and budget power on 22FDX Learn more >>

• GlobalFoundries Unveils Power-Efficient Advancements to 22FDX® Platform at Annual Tech Summit (Sep. 28, 2023)
  GlobalFoundries announced advancements to its industry-leading 22FDX® (22nm FD-SOI) platform, introducing a suite of innovative features and enhancements... Read more >>
• Alphacore Recognized for its TID Results of 22-nm FDSOI SRAM Published in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science journal (Sep. 21, 2023)
  IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science is a peer-reviewed journal with a longstanding history of excellence and notable contributions to the radiation... Read more >>
• X-Fab adds new passive integration technology for RF (Sep. 14, 2023)
  XIPD is derived from the X-FAB XR013 130nm RF SOI process and leverages an engineered substrate along with a thick copper metallisation layer... Read more >>
• Leti details move to 10nm, 7nm FD-SOI process in Europe (Jun. 28, 2023)
  French research centre CEA-Leti is setting up a cleanroom to develop modules for a 10nm low power process technology using fully depleted silicon on insulator... Read more >>
• It's a go for the GF-ST joint FDSOI fab in Crolles (Jun. 6, 2023)
  Globalfoundries and STMicroelectronics have finalized their deal to jointly operate a fab in Crolles, France. The facility will mostly focus on FD-SOI... Read more >>
• CryoCMOS Consortium develops 4K & 77K transistor models to enable CryoIP development (May 11, 2023)
  The Innovate UK-funded CryoCMOS Consortium, led by sureCore Ltd, has successfully created new, PDK-quality, transistor models characterised for both... Read more >>

• QuickLogic Announces New eFPGA Contract Targeting GlobalFoundries 22FDX® Platform (Sep. 26, 2023)
  QuickLogic Corporation, a developer of embedded FPGA IP, ruggedized FPGAs, and Enpoint AI/ML solutions, announced that it has been selected by... Read more >>

• GlobalFoundries Announces 9SW RFSOI Technology for Next-Generation Mobile and 5G Applications (Aug. 30, 2023)
  GlobalFoundries announced advancements in the industry’s first RFSOI foundry solution manufactured on 300mm wafers. Building upon its 8SW RFSOI... Read more >>
• UMC Announces 40nm RFSOI Platform to Accelerate 5G mmWave Applications (May 3, 2023)
  United Microelectronics Corporation announced that its 40nm RFSOI technology platform is now ready for production of millimeter-wave radio frequency... Read more >>

• Dream Chip Technologies tapes out a 10-TOPS SoC in 22nm with a novel AI Accelerator and an Automotive Functional Safety Processor (Aug. 18, 2023)
  Dream Chip Technologies announced today the tape-out of an application-specific System-on-Chip with a novel artificial intelligence accelerator... Read more >>

• Unlock seamless video transmission between graphics adapters and LCD displays with readily licensable, silicon-proven LVDS IP cores tailored for the advanced 22FDX process node (Aug. 7, 2023)
  T2MIP announces the availability of its partner's Silicon Proven LVDS IP Core in 22FDX for different video interface solutions. LVDS has been widely... Read more >>

• SiliconAlly: GigaPHY Testchip is back from Fabrication and Packaging (May 18, 2023)
  The chip contains 2 Dual PHY instances supporting 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 communication and 1 Single PHY instance with 100BASE-T1... Read more >>

Driving Sustainability with FD-SOI in Automotive • More than 20% energy reduction over the entire lifecycle • Up to 1 kWh saving per 100 kilometers driven Learn more >>

• Soitec Reports FY'24 First Quarter Revenue (Jul. 25, 2023)
  Soitec a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative semiconductor materials, announces consolidated revenue of 157 million Euros for the first... Read more >>
• With NextGen, CEA is inventing the future generations of electronic chips to maintain France's competitiveness (Jun. 27, 2023)
  By launching the NextGen project, CEA aims to develop new generations of FD-SOI chips with better energy efficiency. It will ensure the capacity to engineer... Read more >>

Note that for each presentation an email can be sent to the author.

Welcome François Brunier - Soitec, Jan Craninckx - imec Contact Author >>

• Some visions towards 6G cellular systems - University of Oulu - Aarno Pärssinen
  There are presented main aspects of communication including topics as : How should we understand it 6G, 5G with its evolution, scheduled major milestone in 3GPP roadmap, revolutions in communication or natural evolutions of the technologies...
  Contact Author >>
• 6G communications and localization: an overview of technologies opportunities and challenges - STMicroelectronics - Didier Belot
  This presentation describes connectivity challenges for 6G market segments as infrastructure, consumer, industry, automotive - focuses on main challenges for 6G, informs about PA and LNA Technology and Design to address 300GHz...
  Contact Author >>
• RF technology roadmap for 5G and 6G RF front end systems - Soitec - Yvan Morandini
  CMOS on RF-SOI is presented as best -in-class linearity and isolation for wireless system integration. The slides present RF-SOI and FD-SOI products through Beyond5, also 5G and 6G challenges and RFFE roadmap aspects.
  Contact Author >>
• From beyond 5G to sub-THz era - Soitec - François Brunier
  Content of the slides : Smart cut technology, a sustainable material approach, Innovation strategy in partnership projects, BEYOND5 , a KDT value chain on SOI for RF, 5G and sensors, Move2THz, address the challenge of a European THz capacity.
  Contact Author >>

• A low power 5G access point targeting airplane cabin connectivity - Ericsson - Fredrik Tillman
  In this presentation it is described use case and radio environment, radio requirements, project realisation and demonstrator.
  Contact Author >>
• Digital beamforming transceiver design in 22nm FD-SOI technology for 39 GHz 5G access - CEA-Leti - Jérôme Prouvée
  In this presentation are mentioned full digital beamforming pros & challenges. The mail challenges are : Power, Dynamic Range, IO data volume , LO coherence and area. As blocks examples of how to overcome these challenges are presented RX, DAC, SX, TX, ADC, HS-IO...
  Contact Author >>
• Disruptive TRX design for D-band - CEA-Leti - José Luis González Jiménez
  In this presentation the following topics are described:Channel aggregation architectures ( pros and cons, smart frequency plan, etc.), Implementation examples: Multi-channel LO generation, Tranceiver implementations.
  Contact Author >>
• Heterogeneous integration for complex mm-wave transceivers - imec - Piet Wambacq
  This presentation focuses on 5G and bayond applications, usign spectrum in the D-band, operation above 100 GHz: prospects and challenges, 2D beamforming. It are also discussed 2.5D --> 3D integration.
  Contact Author >>
• Packaging technologies and challenges towards 5G integration of mm-wave components and Silicon Ics - Fraunhofer IZM - Tekfouy Lim
  In this presentation, the following topics are described: Integration Technologies and the requirements/challenges, Design and Optimization (RF simulations and studies on etching, Validation with evaluation RFIC, Assembly flow, Conclusions for evaluation RFIC Interposer.
  Contact Author >>
• Energy efficient beam control for 5G antennas - Gdansk University of Technology - Damian Duraj
  In the presentation are described different types of reconfigurable antennas, and antenna concepts ( 5.9 GHz frequency band, 39 GHz frequency band, 60 GHz frequency band)
  Contact Author >>

• Progress and Trends of SOI CMOS Power Amplifiers for Mobile and WiFi Applications - CEA-Leti - Alexandre Giry
  Mobile and WiFi applications are stimulating major research efforts on next-generation power amplifiers. The need for higher integration and the ever-increasing number of frequency bands together with the increasing bandwidth and output power requirements push...
  Contact Author >>
• V2X RF front end module assistance circuits: observation receiver, DPD, and supply modulator - TÜBİTAK - Emre Ulusoy
  C-V2X applications include: V2N ( real-time traffic/routing, cloud services…), V2V (collision avoidance safety systems…),V2I (traffic signal timing/priority…), V2P (safety alerts to pedestrians, bicyclists). The presentation focuses on examples of RF Front-End System and subsystems...
  Contact Author >>
• Impact of high-resistivity substrate on RF and mm-wave performance of 22 nm FD-SOI devices and circuits - Université Catholique de Louvain - Martin Rack
  The presentation provides an overwiew on High Resistivity (HR) substrates for FD-SOI process, substrate options in 22FDX®, CPW Lines and PN Patterns in 22FDX®. It aslo discusses substrate impact examples in 22FDX.
  Contact Author >>
• D-Band noise characterization and modelling in advanced FDSOI devices - Fraunhofer IPMS - Thomas Kämpfe
  FDSOI technology is promising for low-power applications within 110 GHz. The 22nm FDSOI CMOS (22FDX) is continuously developed to improve the RF performance toward 5G applications and beyond...
  Contact Author >>
• Detection of human targets using a MIMO FMCW radar with slow-time DC-Value suppression - Universität der Bundeswehr München - Keivan Alirezazad
  The automotive market as the primary target of mm-wave radar applications. It is a growing interest in human vital signs detection. The presentation targets on Human Target Identification related work, proposed method, experimental results and performance evaluation.
  Contact Author >>

• 2023 101st ARFTG Microwave Measurement Conference
  • Practical Verification of Over-the-Air Measurements and Correlation across Measurement Setups - NI - Thomas Deckert, Okay Schierhorn, Harsh Nitharwal, Jan Fromme

• Sabanci University-Fraunhofer-CEA Event - May 24, 2023 - Sabancı University campus, Ankara, Turkey
  • European Semiconductor Outlook and two case studies; OCEAN12 & BEYOND5 - Fraunhofer, CEA-Leti - Erkan İsa, Dominique Morche

More information about research publications can be found here >>

A design ecosystem vitality is directly related to the set of market available IP.

Thus a list of public available SOI IP are collected, listed, and refreshed on
https://www.soi-forum.com/ in the section "Market available IP on SOI". A Filter by category and vendor is available.

It can be see that 281 SOI IP from 36 vendors have been identified, targeting Samsung, GF, or ST foundry mainly in 3 categories: Foundation IP, Interface IP, Application specific IP.

An analysis of that IP offer has been provided in the previous SOI Letter.

Please refer to SOI News Letter Januray 23 - April 23 to see more about the distribution of the IP offer.

Few changes have been notivcd since that edition.

Recently 8 IP have been added to that list :

• Low Dropout (LDO) Capless Regulator

• 24-bit Cap-less ADC 104.5 dB SNR low power and low latency 4 channels • Combo voltage regulator combining a high efficiency DC-DC for operation in normal mode and an ultra-low quiescent uLDO • DC/DC Buck Converter in GF 22FDX • DC/DC buck converter in GF 22FDX with low quiescent current and high efficiency at light load • LDO linear regulator • Linear Regulator for digital island • Over-voltage Protection Module

The SOI ecosystem is slowly under consolidation. This letter aims at establishing a bridge from technology progresses to the creation of market available existing design blocks or IP.

In order to be comprehensive the participation all members of this ecosystem is key. So please send us recent missing data and more important any contributions (blog, white paper...) you would like to share with this community. Contact us.