Silterra's strategy for success: Q&A with Steve Della Rocchetta, EVP, Silterra

By Chris Hall 

DigiTimes.com, Taipei 

(Wednesday 28 December 2005)

URL: PDF version 

Despite the attractions of the fabless-plus-foundry model, any foundry hoping to compete in an industry dominated by the likes of UMC and TSMC will need to think carefully about its strategy. In the case of Silterra,whose production facility is located in the Kulim High-Tech Park, Malaysia, the strategy combines carefully timed moves to deep submicron with the cultivation of mass-market customers. The result is financial stability after troubled times in the semiconductor industry, and strategic relationships that include a partnership with Taiwan design-service house Goyatek. Silterra is also involved in a joint development project with IMEC in Europe. According to Steve Della Rocchetta, EVP, Sales and Marketing, Silterra is going into 2006 with optimism.

DigiTimes.com spoke recently with Della Rocchetta about Silterra's strategy, technology and prospects. This interview also includes contributions from Koh Meng Kong (MK), director of Marketing for Silterra in Asia.

This is Part I of a three-part interview. Part II will follow on 29 December.

Q: Interesting news from Silterra in 2004 included the start of a joint development project (JDP) with IMEC, in Europe, for 0.13-micron CMOS process. Towards the end of 2004, both a 4Mbit and an 8Mbit SRAM were announced. As I understand it, this is a copper process, with supporting design libraries and IP. What is the status, now, of this JDP with IMEC?

A: We began a joint development project at 0.13 micron with IMEC. This is an all-copper process. We are supporting it with foundation IP, such as design libraries, and star IP. Foundation IP tends to be available early. We're actively engaged with a star-IP licensing plan, and foundation IP from companies such as Virage is available now. The higher value star IP, including ARM processor cores, will become available in the first and second quarters of 2006.

The process is in qualification, and we're producing 8Mbit SRAMs on a regular basis as a qualification vehicle. The defect density is approaching world-class standards. We are quite pleased with our progress. So, overall, I would say the project with IMEC has been a tremendous success. The process is ready for prototyping. We're marketing it actively, and we're in discussion with several customers who will tape-out products sometime in the next three months.

Q: Are there plans for further cooperation?

A: IMEC now has a 300mm facility. They're doing very advanced development work, and the opportunity is there for us to cooperate with them, both at 90 nanometers and at future process nodes beyond 90 nanometers.

Q: Do you have any sense of a timeframe for other processes at deep submicron, going down from 90 nanometers to 65 or 45 nanometers?

A: We'll be taking this a step at a time. I think that 90 nanometers would be the next engagement point for us,and I think it would be premature for me to comment on any future 65- or 45-nanometer processes at this time. I say that because we try to intercept the volume sweet spot of the production technology. Today, 0.18 micron has the highest volume of silicon in production; certainly that has been the case in 2005. I don't think the crossover point will occur until 2006, when the largest production volumes will be at 0.13 micron. Our target customers generally do not require bleeding-edge technologies. We try to take this a step at a time, and we try to time things carefully. I'm not saying we won't go beyond 90 nanometers; it's just that there is no timeframe.

Q: Do you have any comment to make on the technical difficulties involved in implementing copper interconnects?

A: If you were doing it four or five years ago, or very early on, I think it was a substantial challenge. If you look at how we are implementing it today, we are working with second-generation copper equipment, and frankly a lot of the technical challenges have already been resolved. One of the things we try to offer is value for our customers, and one of the ways to accomplish that is to keep the R&D expenses low. IMEC is a renowned organization for advanced process technologies, and we achieved yielding silicon on the very first wafer lot.

Q: According to information given in press releases, Silterra currently has a designed capacity for 40,000 8-inch wafers per month. Does Silterra plan to expand this capacity? Does Silterra have any plans for 300mm production?

A: The facility has 40,000 wafer-outs of capacity, but we are tooled to 30,000. However, during 2006 we will expand it to full capacity. 

We have a proposed plan for a Fab 2, although construction would probably not begin before 2008. By our estimate, it would take about 11 months, from ground-breaking, to get the facility operational. We have site availability at our current location, so that's not an issue. There's also lots of infrastructure, now, in the Kulim High-Tech Park. There are currently two fabs – Silterra’s Fab 1 and a fab Infineon is building on land adjacent to ours.

If and when we do build a second fab, it's likely to be a 300mm facility. We feel we could bring it up fairly quickly, and it's likely it would be capable of 90- and 65-nanometer technologies. 


About Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.:

Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. is a leading semiconductor wafer foundry that provides advanced foundry standard CMOS logic, high-voltage and mixed-signal/RF technologies. The company’s wafer fab has a designed capacity of 38,000 eight-inch wafers per month. Silterra, which is committed to world-class service and environmental friendliness, received Notable Mention in the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award competition for Environmental Performance in 2003. The company is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 certified. Silterra’s headquarters and factory are located in Kulim, Malaysia, and has offices in San Jose (California), Scottsdale (Arizona) and Hsinchu (Taiwan). For additional information on Silterra or its services, please visit www.silterra.com.