Silicon on Insulator (SOI) wafers

Silicon on Insulator (SOI) wafers are of huge significance. Silicon on the insulator is a technology mainly based on microelectronics in which monocrystalline silicon wafers are replaced by a semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor layer structure. This technology consists of placing on the silicon layer a second layer of silicon oxide or glass to increase the insulation.This technique reduces the stray capabilities of manufactured circuits, reduces the risk of latch-up on CMOS logic circuits, and improves the scalability of integrated circuits. The insulation used is typically silicon dioxide. The use of SOI has the advantage of hardly requiring changes in the manufacturing process of integrated circuits beyond using SOI wafers other than traditional ones. SOI Wafers and this technique allows decreasing the parasitic capacity that is inherent to each transistor manufactured with traditional methods. Each small capacitor charges and discharges at each clock pulse, which consumes energy, generates heat and introduces signal delays. By decreasing this capacitive effect, the transistor can run faster.