PARIS, Aug. 24, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- SOITEC, the leading manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers for use in semiconductor manufacturing, today announced it is investing seed money in a start-up firm devoted to aiding potential SOI users in their efforts to accelerate design and move to production on SOI. SOISIC (Silicon on Insulator Systems and Integrated Circuits), the world's first company to focus solely on supporting SOI circuit design and SOI technology development, recently completed a successful round of financing in which SOITEC participated in the range of 5 percent of the post money shareholding.
SOISIC is a spin-off of the Laboratoire d'Electronique, de Technologie de l'Information (LETI, Grenoble, France), a well-known electronics-industry R&D laboratory. Created in April 2001, the company is built on both the transfer of SOI know-how from the LETI, including patents and software, and the extensive SOI expertise of its founders. Currently, SOISIC's support is concentrated in SOI circuit design, including digital, analog and radio-frequency (RF) circuit blocks, and SOI technology development, including electrical characterization tools and standard cell libraries.
"Design is the next major area on which the industry must focus its attention to trigger large volumes of SOI-based chips," said Andre Auberton-Herve, president of SOITEC, who will become a member of SOISIC's board of non-executive directors. "We are committed to helping the industry move forward on SOI, and we stand ready to provide the SOI wafer volume that the industry needs. As a successful LETI spin-off ourselves, we are very pleased to be in the position to contribute to SOISIC's charter by providing consulting support in this important area."
SOISIC President Jean-Luc Pelloie added, "Given the recent advances made by SOI into the mainstream electronics industry, we felt that the timing was right to found this company with its very specific focus. We bring 20 years of SOI research with the LETI through our participation in European programs in the military and aerospace arenas, and we look forward to moving the SOI industry forward, helping highly skilled engineers learn to design on SOI."
Currently in a rapid ramp-up mode, SOISIC is vigorously recruiting accomplished circuit designers. Other SOISIC investors include a number of French and American venture capitalists, as well as the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), the French public technological research organization.
About SOITEC
Silicon-On-Insulator Technologies (SOITEC) is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers for the semi-conductor industry. Using the Smart Cut(R) technology, SOITEC produces an extensive line of fine layer advanced materials for microelectronics, including the SOI products (UNIBOND(R)) for microelectronics and silicon on quartz/glass wafers. SOITEC is traded on the Nouveau Marche of the Paris Bourse -Sicovam Code 7206 -The SOITEC warrants are also traded on the Nouveau Marche of the Paris Bourse. Additional information can be obtained on the website: www.soitec.com.
* Silicon On Insulator