The advancement of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices and their basic properties

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is most promising present-day silicon technology. The use of SOI provides significant benefits over traditional bulk silicon technology in fabrication of many integrated circuits (ICs), and in particular, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) ICs. It also allows extending the miniaturization of CMOS devices into the nanometer region. In this review paper, we briefly describe evolution of SOI technology and its main areas of application. The basic technological methods for fabrication of SOI wafers are presented. The principal advantages of SOI devices over bulk silicon devices are described. The types of SOI metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and their basic electrical properties are considered.