Soitec licencing to TSMC its IP portfolio related to back-side illumination technology for image sensors

Bernin (Grenoble), France, September 10, 2013 — Soitec (Euronext), a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, has licensed some of its intellectual property (IP) portfolio related to back-side illumination (BSI) technology for image sensors to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (TSMC), a leading foundry provider of image sensor products. BSI is a key enabling technology in the race to develop small-pixel, high-quality image sensors used in consumer products such as digital cameras, smart phones and other portable electronics.

“We are very pleased to strengthen our relationship with TSMC. This licensing agreement demonstrates the value of Soitec’s extensive and generic patent portfolio in manufacturing advanced devices such as BSI image sensors,” said Paul Boudre, chief operating officer at Soitec. “We look forward to continuing to leverage our IP portfolio by providing our partners with access to our technologies.”

Soitec uses its strong portfolio of technologies and its high capacity for innovation to deliver enhanced performance and energy efficiency to the electronics and energy markets. Today Soitec's IP portfolio contains nearly 3,000 patents covering several technologies for manufacturing engineered wafers and to be used as building blocks in leading-edge microelectronic products such as BSI image sensors. In this case, the back side illumination technology for image sensors uses some of the key process steps of Soitec’s Smart Stacking™ generic technology. 

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.