Soitec announced today its commitment to deliver 300mm RF-SOI substrates to GlobalFoundries (GF) for the production of GF’s leading RF-SOI technology platforms, including the company’s most advanced RF solution, 9SW.
Building on the longstanding relationship between the two companies, this commitment will ensure the supply of advanced RF-SOI engineered substrates required for 5G, 5G-Advanced, Wi-Fi, and other smart mobile device Radio Frequency Front-End (RFFE) modules.
To support advanced connectivity, GF’s 9SW RF-SOI platform with its superior switching, low-noise amplifiers (LNA) and logic processing capabilities offers significant advantages and value for premium smartphones by delivering enhanced RF performance, improved power efficiency and scalability. These features are critical for ensuring a superior user experience in high-end devices.
The new Soitec RF-SOI 300mm substrate offers significant advancements: reduced off-capacitance due to optimized silicon thickness, enhanced and sustained power efficiency enabled by an optimized oxide layer, and superior RF performance made possible by Soitec’s cutting-edge RFeSITM product family.
Manufactured using Soitec’s latest-generation 300mm RF-SOI wafers, GF’s 9SW platform delivers significant reduction in active and standby power consumption and enables 10% smaller products than previous platforms, for an efficiency enhancement of more than 20% through lower on-resistance and off-capacitance figures of merit.
“GF continues to deliver highly differentiated, industry-leading technologies required for essential 5G, IoT, Infrastructure and Automotive applications. This collaboration with Soitec shows our commitment to ensure a continuous supply of high-performance RF-SOI solutions that meet our customers’ fast evolving needs” said Faisal Saleem, Senior Vice President of End Markets at GlobalFoundries.
“Soitec has established the world’s largest production capacity to meet growing demand for advanced RF-SOI substrates supporting 5G and WiFi technologies in smartphones, as well as future AR-VR and IoT devices. We are delighted to extend our longstanding relationship with GlobalFoundries in developing the next generation of 300mm RF-SOI technologies. The transition from 5G to 5G-Advanced, and eventually 6G, requires ever-higher performance and energy efficiency, as well as increasing compactness for next-generation devices,” said Jean-Marc Le Meil, Soitec Executive Vice President for Mobile Communications.
