The fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) process has an operating voltage of 0.4V, along with 20% smaller die size than a 28nm process. It also requires 10% fewer masks and nearly half as many immersion lithography layers.
"The 22FDX platform enables our customers to deliver differentiated products with the best balance of power, performance and cost," said Sanjay Jha, CEO. "In an industry first, 22FDX provides real-time system software control of transistor characteristics: the system designer can dynamically balance power, performance and leakage. Additionally, for RF and analogue integration, the platform delivers best scaling combined with highest energy efficiency."
Four 'flavours' of 22FDX are being introduced: the ultra low power 22FD-ulp; the ultra high performance 22FD-uhp; the ultra low leakage 22FD-ull; and 22FD-rfa for RF analogue designs.
Jean-Marc Chery, STMicroelectronics' chief operating officer said: "Globalfoundries' FDX platform, using an advanced FD-SOI transistor architecture developed through our long standing research partnership, confirms and strengthens the momentum of this technology by expanding the ecosystem and assuring a source of high-volume supply. FD-SOI is an ideal process technology to meet the always on, low power requirements of IoT and other power sensitive devices worldwide."
