UMC gives details of strained silicon process

13 June 2003

At the VSLI Symposium, UMC described the speed enhancement provided by strained-silicon technology, using wafers supplied by AmberWave, in its high performance CMOS foundry process.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has introduced its strained silicon technology using wafers built on AmberWave’s substrate technology.

In a paper at the 2003 VLSI symposium, UMC explained that its strained silicon process exhibited a significant CMOS performance enhancement with over 20% current driving capability successfully demonstrated on a 70 nm strained silicon transistor with a speed enhancement of over 10% on a test circuit.

"UMC’s strained silicon process offers an alternative path to realize performance improvements without aggressive gate length shrinkage," said S W Sun, VP of UMC’s central research and development division.

"We believe that many of our foundry partners will benefit from this enabling technology in the future," added Sun.

UMC is working with AmberWave to enhance p-channel transistor performance, improve strained layer defect density, and decrease substrate-costs associated with this strained silicon technology.

"AmberWave is seeing the interest in strained silicon accelerate significantly as companies look for ways to address the transistor performance challenges associated with deep sub-micron technology." said Mitch Tyson, AmberWave’s CEO.

Tyson says that AmberWave's strong technical know-how and an extensive IP portfolio, can help customers benefit from its strained silicon technology as it moves towards commercial adoption.

"UMC is our early technology partner and we are excited to have collaborated with them to bring the benefits of the strained silicon technology to their foundry partners," said Tyson.

About AmberWave Systems
Founded in 1998, AmberWave Systems has become a leader in the research, development and licensing of advanced technologies for semiconductor manufacturing. By funding and guiding university research, AmberWave Systems is bringing new technology developments to fruition through patents and technology licensing. In conjunction with its university research projects, AmberWave Systems conducts its own research, development and limited manufacturing in its semiconductor fabrication facility in Salem, New Hampshire. In addition, AmberWave Systems collaborates with other technology focused companies to further expand and develop its research. For more information about the company, please visit its Web site at www.amberwave.com.