Thick-SOI’ 08

Thick-SOI’ 08

The term thick-SOI refers to a semiconductor substrate with an active, single-crystal silicon layer whose thickness exceeds 1µm. It lies on a buried oxide which is set on top of a silicon wafer carrier. This structure is widely used in MEMS and in Power Device electronics.

In 2007, thick-SOI substrates accounted for a $72M market, representing approximately 380,000 6`` (equiv.) wafer units. MEMS currently accounts for 38% of this market, and this figure is expected to exceed 45% by 2012. The other outlet for these products is the power semiconductor industry.

MEMS business is boosting thick-SOI demand thanks to the market dynamism of products such as accelerometers or gyroscopes, which are now widely used in numerous consumer products (cell-phones, game-pads, cameras...). MEMS-related activities are expected to drive more than 300,000 6`` thick-SOI substrates in 2012.

Power electronics was the first sector with a need for thick-SOI: this technology was developed to design and manufacture some of the plasma TV (PDP) drivers ICs. As a result, the very high market penetration of plasma technology in large flat panel displays led to very rapid ramp-up in this segment. In 2006, about 200,000 6``-thick SOI wafers were processed. This being said, competition from LCD technology is currently reversing this trend: whereas the CAGR of thick-SOI PDP-related business was routinely above 25% in the past years, annual growth is forecasted to be only 6% after 2008.

The leading company in the thick-SOI wafer business is still SEH (J), followed by SUMCO (J). Asia supplies about 75% of all thick-SOI wafers and is consuming in between 40% to 50% of the worldwide wafer volume in MEMS and Power Electronics. Due to its involvement in both sectors, namely MEMS and Power electronics, DENSO (J) still leads the pack of the TOP 25 thick-SOI users, with STM, NEC and Fuji following fairly closely behind. The largest pure-MEMS player is Silex Microsystems, the Swedish company. In 2011, the $100M mark will be reached for substrates, and 10% CAGR is forecasted until 2012.

This report provides a unique description on the thick-SOI material business in a single package. It highlights the main metrics and the key market trends that will help material and equipment vendors to position their R&D efforts and anticipate the changes and forecasted evolution of their business.

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Executive summary

Thick SOI market analysis

Thick SOI application fields

Thick SOI definitions

Market for MEMS: 2006-2012 thick SOI wafers volume split by MEMS devices

Market for Power Devices: 2006-2012 thick SOI wafers volume

2006-2012 total wafers volume (6`` equiv. units)

2006-2012 value in M$ (MEMS & Power Devices)

2007 Top25 thick-SOI wafers company consumption. Estimation in 6?? wafer units MEMS & Power Device Markets

Bonded-SOI vs. Epi-SOI

Geographical breakdown for thick-SOI usage in 2007

Thick-SOI: Main technical trends. Top Si layer & BOX thickness

Thick SOI wafer suppliers

Thick-SOI 2007 estimated production

Estimation of 2007 6`` equiv. thick-SOI wafers production per company in units

2007 thick-SOI vendor revenues. Breakdown by region

Short company profiles:

Icemos Technology

Covalent Materials

Isonics Semiconductor

Simgui

SEH: Shin Etsu Hendotai

SOITEC TRACIT

Okmetic

MEMS Engineering

Ultrasil Corporation

2006-2012 MEMS Market

Micromachining approaches in MEMS

-SOI-MEMS micromachining

Use of different materials in the MEMS field

2006-2012 MEMS market value (M$)

2006-2012 MEMS market value split by application

MEMS CAGR ranking by products

MEMS market forecast: comments

2007 MEMS manufacturer TOP 30 revenues

2008 TOP 30 MEMS players: comments

MEMS substrates size evolution. Si and SOI

SOI use in selected MEMS Companies

Vacuum cavities on SOI wafers for MEMS & IC integration

3D integration of MEMS: DALSA Semiconductor

RF MEMS Players. Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC

Tunable Capacitors

Silicon Microphone Players. Auxitrol

Silicon Microphone Players. Pixtronix (Analog Devices foundry)

2006-2012 Power Device market

Power Devices definition

Power Devices segmentation

Main applications of power devices

Si Power Devices Capabilities. Where SOI can be used?

Power Devices Technical Challenges

Most targeted applications by devices type

2006-2012: The global power devices market: IPM will represent more than 50% by 2008

Revenues breakdown per application

Comparison with mainstream SC market: in 2007, Power Devices was accounting for ~9%

Focus on discretes market: 2005->2007: IGBTs are pushing in

Focus on IPM: Voltage regulators are leading the market

2007 Top-20 company main products (discretes and power modules)

2005-2012 wafers consumption (6`` equiv. wafer units)

Power Devices: Definitions

What kind of devices is SOI targeting?

What kind of applications is SOI targeting?

Use of SOI in Power devices IPM Deep Trench Isolation (DTI)

What kind of components is targeting SOI

The Membrane Power Device

What kind of components is targeting SOI

Example of DENSO Research Center

SOI competing technologies

Who's using thick SOI for power devices ?

Example of thick-SOI application: Plasma Display Panel (PDP) driver IC

Plasma Display Panel (PDP) driver IC. 2005-2012 market data (units & value)

Example of thick-SOI applications: PDP scan drivers Positioning of SOI technologies in display drivers

Example of PDP scan drivers: NEC PDP scan drivers roadmap: 192 then 256 outputs

Conclusions for Power Devices

Recent news in Power Devices and thick-SOI

Toshiba: High Voltage Three-Phase Motor Drivers with Built-In Power Management Circuits

ATMEL: 1st high voltage automotive load driver IC on SOI-BCD technologyy On the feasibility of super junction thick-SOI power LDMOS transistors for RF base station applications

Philips A-BCD thick SOI technology

Toshiba SOI news

Infineon & ABB SOI news

±600V ±2A TRIAC in S±600V ±2A TRIAC in SOI substrates for domestic applications (source Leti & STM)

Other markets: Image sensors & Photonics

Thick SOI in Back-Side Illumination imaging sensors

CMOS imagers: SOI process of OKI

Thick-SOI for waveguides technology

IBM: Si photonics scaling in microelectronic applications

SOI in Photonics applications

Conclusions:

Summary for Thick-SOI needs

Thick-SOI usage details per company: Products, wafer size, SOI wafer specification, supplier information, others...

Analog Devices, APM, Denso, E2V, Freescale, Honeywell, Matsushita, OKI Electric, STM Catania, STM Tours, TMT, TSMC, Atotech, Dalsa Semiconductor, Fraunhofer IZM, Freescale Sendai, IMT, Micralyne, Pirelli, Siimpel, Silex Microsystems, Texas Instrument, VTT, X-Fab, Fraunhofer IPMS, Chemnitz Univ.