BERNIN (GRENOBLE), France and
ST. PETERS, Mo., Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Soitec (Euronext)
and SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) announced today that they have
entered into a patent cross-license agreement relating to
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer products. The agreement
provides each company with access to the other's patent portfolio
for SOI technologies and ends all outstanding legal disputes
between the companies.
"This agreement represents a key milestone in the continuing
development of a strong supply chain in the SOI ecosystem," said
Christophe Maleville, Senior Vice
President of Digital Electronics Division of Soitec. It also
demonstrates the key role of SOI substrate technology for the
current and future CMOS device roadmap."
"SunEdison has been a leading silicon substrate innovator for
over 50 years with a strong patent portfolio," added Horacio Mendez, Vice President of Semiconductor
Advanced Solutions, SunEdison. "This cooperation adds to
SunEdison's current SOI product capability and enhances the ability
of both companies to provide more compelling SOI solutions to our
customers."
This agreement provides access to a portfolio of patents from
both companies and covers the manufacturing of existing engineered
unpatterned handle-substrates such as partially depleted SOI
(PD-SOI), fully depleted SOI (FD-SOI) and radio-frequency SOI
(RF-SOI) as well as advanced FinFETs.
In addition to the current technologies covered by the
agreement, including applications beyond the 10 nm node, Soitec and
SunEdison have agreed to grant each other the right to use their
respective wholly owned patents for research and development
purposes. This will allow the companies to develop products in
which the device layer is made of a semiconductor material other
than plain, non-strained silicon, such as a silicon-germanium
compound, germanium or III-V materials. These advanced
semiconductor materials enable the fabrication of high-mobility
channels for advanced generation digital applications.
Additional conditions of the agreement have not been
disclosed.
About Soitec: Soitec is an international manufacturing
company, a world leader in generating and manufacturing
revolutionary semiconductor materials at the frontier of the most
exciting energy and electronic challenges. Soitec's products
include substrates for microelectronics (most notably SOI:
Silicon-on-Insulator) and concentrator photovoltaic systems (CPV).
The company's core technologies are Smart Cut™, Smart Stacking™ and
Concentrix™, as well as expertise in epitaxy. Applications include
consumer and mobile electronics, microelectronics-driven IT,
telecommunications, automotive electronics, lighting products and
large-scale solar power plants. Soitec has manufacturing plants and
R&D centers in France,
Singapore, Germany and the
United States. For more information, visit:
www.soitec.com.
About SunEdison
SunEdison is a global leader in
semiconductor and solar technology. SunEdison's semiconductor
business has been a pioneer in the design and development of
silicon wafer technologies for over 50 years. With R&D and
manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, SunEdison enables the next generation of
high performance semiconductor devices. SunEdison's solar business
develops, finances, installs and operates distributed power plants,
delivering fully managed, predictably priced solar energy services
for its commercial, government and utility customers. SunEdison's
common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol "SUNE." For more information, visit:
www.sunedisonsilicon.com.
SOURCE SunEdison, Inc.
