Soitec Group Announces Circuit Stacking Capability Ready for Manufacturing and Technology Transfer

BERNIN, France - Smart Stacking(TM) Enables Production Solutions for Image Sensors,
Photonic Circuits and Wafer-Level 3D Integration Applications

The Soitec Group (Euronext Paris), the world’s leading supplier of
engineered substrates for the microelectronics industry, announced today that
Smart Stacking(TM) , its circuit stacking technology, is now ready for both
manufacturing and technology transfer. This low-temperature industrial
process from Soitec’s Tracit business unit achieves wafer-level circuit
stacking onto a range of starting materials with excellent yield. The ability
to move a finished circuit onto another carrier without jeopardizing yield
opens new doors for designers. Today, Smart Stacking(TM) enables the
production of high-end image sensors; it will soon enable a range of new
photonics applications, RF circuits, and the ultimate realization of more
complex 3D product architectures.

To decouple circuit fabrication from application needs, Soitec has
developed this generic process to transfer thin layers of processed wafers
onto a variety of materials. Smart Stacking(TM) technology comprises
low-temperature, high-energy wafer bonding, and thinning techniques, both
enhanced by Soitec’s high volume production know-how. The company reports
that several wafer types coming from a number of worldwide foundries and IDMs
have been successfully processed for prototyping and production in its
state-of-the-art manufacturing line.

“As a substrate manufacturer with world-class industrial capabilities,
validated IP and many years of experience, Soitec is offering Smart
Stacking(TM) circuit stacking technology using a unique approach,” notes
Bernard Aspar, vice-president of the Tracit business unit. “For lower volume
applications, we can provide circuit stacking custom manufacturing services,
but we recognize that higher volume applications may be served best by
transferring a customized process to our customers, giving them opportunities
to simplify their logistics, reduce costs and shorten cycle times. Therefore
we provide both manufacturing service and technology licensing options.”

The Soitec Group acquired Tracit (originally a spin-off of the very well
known CEA-Léti microelectronics research organization) in 2006. Today’s
announcement validates this strategic, highly-complementary acquisition, as
well as the Group’s overall strategy of volume manufacturing, licensing and
innovation through the development of breakthrough technologies.

According to a recent study on 3D ICs by Yole Development, an independent
semiconductor market research and analysis firm, the demand for wafer-level
transfer processing is forecasted to reach significant volume production by
2010/2011, mainly driven by image sensor applications. “By 2012, when the
market for 3D integration of heterogeneous components such as memories,
logic, power ICs and analog takes off, Soitec’s circuit stacking technology
will enable further device design simplification and manufacturing with
hybrid function capability and technology integration,” says Dr. Eric
Mounier, co-founder of Yole Development.

About the Soitec Group:

The Soitec Group is the world’s leading innovator and provider of the
engineered substrate solutions that serve as the foundation for today’s most
advanced microelectronic products. The group leverages its proprietary Smart
Cut(TM) technology to engineer new substrate solutions, such as
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, which became the first high-volume
application for this proprietary technology. Since then, SOI has emerged as
the material platform of the future, enabling the production of higher
performing, faster chips that consume less power.

Today, Soitec produces more than 80 percent of the world’s SOI wafers.
Headquartered in Bernin, France, with two high-volume fabs on-site, Soitec
has offices throughout the United States, Japan and Taiwan, and a new
production site in the process of customers’ qualification in Singapore.

Two other divisions, Picogiga International (Les Ulis) and Tracit
Technologies (Bernin), complete the Soitec Group. Picogiga delivers advanced
substrates solutions, including III-V epiwafers and gallium nitride (GaN)
wafers, to the compound material world for the manufacture of high-frequency
electronics and other optoelectronic devices. Tracit, on the other hand,
provides thin-film layer transfer technologies used to manufacture advanced
substrates for power ICs and microsystems, as well as generic circuit
transfer technology “Smart Stacking” for applications such as image sensors
and 3D-integration. Shares of the Soitec Group are listed on Euronext Paris.
For more information, visit www.soitec.com.

Soitec, Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On
Insulator Technologies.

Press Contact:

Camille Darnaud-Dufour
Tel (France): +33-(0)6-79-49-51-43
E-mail:camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.com

Source: Soitec Silicon

Press Contact: Camille Darnaud-Dufour, Tel (France): +33-(0)6-79-49-51-43, E-mail:camille.darnaud-dufour at soitec.com