FDSOI interest jump-up with 22nm FDSOI fab from Globalfoundries

For some reason, Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator (FDSOI) chip fabrication technology was pushed down by the major foundries and have taken FinFET path further to the 28 nm node. Many of the industry experts argue that 22 nm FDSOI chip can give the benefits what 14 nm finFET device can give in majority of applications. Except for the expensive silicon wafer cost and little different CAD implementation of VLSI design, the total cost of 22 nm FDSOI chip is lesser than finFET chip. FDSOI requires far lesser masks than the 14 nm finFET. Though late, chip industry has realised the potential benefit of fully depleted silicon on insulator technology. Now you have a fab/foundry by Globalfoundries which makes chips at the cost of 28 nm bulk, but the performance benefits near equivalent to 14 nm finFETs. IOT and the low-cost smart phones are the two important markets for this technology. The 22 nm FDSOI platform called “22FDX” is suggested as optimal solution for mainstream mobile, Internet-of-Things (IoT), RF connectivity and networking markets, where cost is the driving factor. From this 22FDX process you get a lowest operating voltage of 0.4V, 20% smaller die size, a 10% lesser masks compared to 28 nm and nearly 50 percent fewer immersion lithography layers than foundry FinFET, says Globalfoundries. 22FDX also features a real-time system software control of...