China's Interest in FD-SOI: Is It for Real?

Reporters find it easier to write about Donald Trump, Apple and FinFET. When it comes to FD-SOI, not so much.

By Junko Yoshida, EETimes, Apr. 05, 2016 – As a reporter, I find writing about "hot" companies, technologies and people much easier than the more technical subjects I often cover. As I write about these trendy topics, I actually feel momentum rising. With every media outlet doggedly chasing the same stick, there's no need to explain to readers why I'm writing this and why it's important to them.

Donald Trump, Apple and FinFET come to mind.

In contrast, it's far more challenging to write about underdogs, topics fewer people talk about. Some readers, often, have already made up their mind, that these topics don't matter to them.

In short, it's a hard sell.

At EE Times, in the semiconductor field, I find fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) is just such an underdog topic - undervalued, underestimated, neglected. It generates geographically-divided opinions, comments and innuendo. This is predictable, because FD-SOI is a less traveled road for many engineers in the chip industry.

As a reporter, I'm no judge. Obviously, I have no skin in the game.

But as I follow people, companies and technologies outside Silicon Valley, I've observed the twists and turns of the FD-SOI story. They're pretty interesting.

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