Soitec and SunEdison Enter Into Patent License Agreement

BERNIN (GRENOBLE), France and ST. PETERS, Mo., Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Soitec (Euronext) and SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) announced today that they have entered into a patent cross-license agreement relating to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer products.  The agreement provides each company with access to the other's patent portfolio for SOI technologies and ends all outstanding legal disputes between the companies.

"This agreement represents a key milestone in the continuing development of a strong supply chain in the SOI ecosystem," said Christophe Maleville, Senior Vice President of Digital Electronics Division of Soitec. It also demonstrates the key role of SOI substrate technology for the current and future CMOS device roadmap."

"SunEdison has been a leading silicon substrate innovator for over 50 years with a strong patent portfolio," added Horacio Mendez, Vice President of Semiconductor Advanced Solutions, SunEdison. "This cooperation adds to SunEdison's current SOI product capability and enhances the ability of both companies to provide more compelling SOI solutions to our customers."

This agreement provides access to a portfolio of patents from both companies and covers the manufacturing of existing engineered unpatterned handle-substrates such as partially depleted SOI (PD-SOI), fully depleted SOI (FD-SOI) and radio-frequency SOI (RF-SOI) as well as advanced FinFETs.

In addition to the current technologies covered by the agreement, including applications beyond the 10 nm node, Soitec and SunEdison have agreed to grant each other the right to use their respective wholly owned patents for research and development purposes. This will allow the companies to develop products in which the device layer is made of a semiconductor material other than plain, non-strained silicon, such as a silicon-germanium compound, germanium or III-V materials. These advanced semiconductor materials enable the fabrication of high-mobility channels for advanced generation digital applications.

Additional conditions of the agreement have not been disclosed.

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.

About SunEdison
SunEdison is a global leader in semiconductor and solar technology. SunEdison's semiconductor business has been a pioneer in the design and development of silicon wafer technologies for over 50 years. With R&D and manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, SunEdison enables the next generation of high performance semiconductor devices. SunEdison's solar business develops, finances, installs and operates distributed power plants, delivering fully managed, predictably priced solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers. SunEdison's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SUNE."   For more information, visit: www.sunedisonsilicon.com.

 

SOURCE SunEdison, Inc.

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