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Globalfoundries (GF) will have its 12-inch wafer fabs in Dresden, Germany focus on using FD-SOI (fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator) process technology to fabricate automotive-use chips for the European market, while its fab in Chengdu, China will be dedicated to manufacturing ICs on the process for IoT (Internet of Things) and 5G applications in the China market, according to Thomas Morgenstern, vice president of GF.
Morgenstern told Digitimes that his company has drawn tech development blueprints in two major directions for different application markets. First, the 14LPP/12LPP/7LPP FinFET processes will be utilized to fabricate high-performance computing chips for sensors, graphic cards, high-end smartphone application processors, network communications, and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). And then the FD-SOI technology will be dedicated to making wireless communication chips featuring embedded memory, low power consumption and high cost-performance ratio, suitable for applications in midrange and low-end smartphone APs, IoT, automotive electronics, and phone cameras.
Morgenstern said GF’s Dresden fabs have kicked off small-volume production using 22nm FD-SOI process technology, and the technology will soon be incorporated into the application end and will ensure a continuation of the efficiency improvements projected by the Moore’s Law.
He said 22nm FD-SOI process is equivalent to 14nm polySiON/HKMG process in performance, but similar in cost to 28nm polySiON/HKMG node; and the 12nm process of the former is equivalent to 10nm in performance and 16nm in cost for the latter.
GF will start in 2018 to transfer its22nm FD-SOI process tech to its 12-inch wafer fab in Chengdu, China, a joint venture plant between GF and Chengdu City Government. The plant is slated to start volume production using 22nm FD-SOI tech in the second half of 2019, with annual production capacity set at one million pieces to support IoT and 5G applications in the China market. GF will invest US$100 million to set up an FDX FD-SOI design service center and establish an EDA/IP ecosystem, according to Morgenstern.
GF vice president Thomas Morgenstern.
Photo: Josephine Lien, Digitimes, December 2017
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