Thick SOI 2008

SUMMARY

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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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.