Russia is awakening after fifteen years of stagnation in technical capability, and with its high level of education, history of academic research in semiconductor physics, as well as production of electronics systems for sophisticated applications (aerospace and others), the current industry growth is seen as the beginning of a new era of Russian manufacturing with advanced semiconductor process technologies of I 30-nm, 90-nm, and eventually 65-nm.

The Russian economy is booming. The gross domestic product rose by 8.1 percent in 2007. With the rapid growth of IT-related markets, increased government and corporate spending on information and communication technology infrastructure and services, and growing regional consumer spending, the local manufacturing of semiconductor devices became vital and the number of semiconductor manufacturing projects in Russia continues to grow.

An upturn of Russian semiconductor industry is supported by the Russian state, which has declared that the electronics industry is the catalyst for the development of the entire Russian economy.

Semiconductor manufacturing projects

1. Mikron, the biggest semiconductor device maker in Russia together with their mother company Sitronics have cut a deal with STMicroelectronics to provide a 0.18-micron CMOS EEPROM process, the starting point for Mikron’s roadmap down to 65 nm.

A three month waiting period in the project’s implementation caused by export control issues didn’t result in significant delays, and the project was launched (first silicon) in the first quarter of 2008.

2. Angstrem T has teamed up with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to implement a I 30-nm CMOS process in their new fab, which is being set up as a pure foundry for the WVV market. The start of Angstrem’s production line is planned for the end of 2009, and further expansion and upgrade up to 90 – 65 nm technology level are to be started in 2010. It is also planned that following the above upgrade, Angstrem will start working for the local market, continuously increasing the local market share. Currently Angstrem T is redesigning its fab with the participation of M+W Zander. Despite some delays in the implementation of the project caused by financial issues, the decision to provide funding to Angstrem’s project was finally taken by the Supervisory Board of VneshEconomBank of the Russian Federation in the middle of February 2008.

3. At the very end of August 2007, it has become public that a Swiss company, Advanced Electronic Systems (AES) was set to acquire Altis, with the declared intention of producing European and Russian-designed products at the 200-mm wafer fab. AES is a Swiss daughter company of Global Information Services (GIS), a Russia-based holding with headquarters in Moscow. It was founded by the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and by the Russian Academy of Sciences with the backing from the Russian bank of development Vnesheconombank and the Russian government.

The Altis project is advancing one step further as a result of the GIS’s acquisition of the company and the manufacturing site. Altis has been producing electronic components using 0.25-micron aluminum technology and 0. I 3-micron copper technology mainly for communications, automotive, and security applications.

4. In October of 2007, news came that the Investment Commission of the Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development approved Sitronics’ project for building a semiconductor fab to produce flash memory ICs with 65 – 45 nm technology level.

Estimated investment from now until 2009 equals USD 2.3 billion.

Production launch is planned for the end of 2009.The new fab will work as a separate business unit with estimated Sitronics share of 51% ; 49% will belong to the state. Basic investments will come from the Investment Fund controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development (MEDT).

The project’s evaluation has been done by Credit Suisse Investment Bank. According to the bank’s report, discounted payback period will take 10 years with capital weighted average cost of 8.64%. Production area will be about 30 000 sq. m. with 10 000 sq. m. of clean rooms. At the very beginning, production volume will be 3 000 wafers per month, while the target production volume is 10 000 wafers. The total number of employees will be 1 700.

The new fab will produce semiconductor devices for the local market including digital TVs, receivers for the GLONAS System, SIM cards for 3G mobile communication, as well some other consumer applications. The project was received at the end of December 2007.

5. A semiconductor manufacturing project is going on at Integral, Belarus. The project is 100% state-funded. Technical parameters: CMOS process with technology level 0.35 micron, wafer size 200 mm, production volume 1 000 wafers per month at the beginning with planned expansion up to 2 000 per month. Products include processors, memory, advanced logic, and others. The general contractor is M+W Zander with the involvement of Intecs and Fraunhofer Institute.

6. There is a considerable number of companies, R&D institutions, and IC design centers in Russia, whose projects are funded from the federal and regional budgets, including MIET in Zelenograd (setting up Photomask Center – design, manufacturing and cataloging of photomasks), the Pulsar company in Moscow (microwave devices design and manufacturing), “lstok” in Fryazino (microwave devices and modules for avionics, industrial automatics, etc.), the OLED manufacturing project in Autopribor Plant in the city of Vladimir, Svetlana in St. Petersburg (optoelectronics development), and many others.

Nanotechnologies development

Among the high tech areas that are strongly supported by the state, the field of nanotechnologies has national priority.

On July 4, 2007, Russian lawmakers approved the creation of a state-run nanotechnology corporation dedicated to the development of an area of science that President Vladimir Putin has elevated to a national priority and for which he has pledged USD 7 billion in state funds.

Nanotechnology is “a key direction for the development of modern industry and science,” Putin said, comparing its importance to the birth of nuclear science.

As a key part of the Nanotechnology National Program, the Nanotechnology Center is being set up on the campus of the famous Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. Currently, the project is going through the stage of facility design, which is being made by M+W Zander. The work with equipment suppliers has also started, and the launch of the center is scheduled for the first half of 2009.

PV development

Significant progress has been reached in Russia/C.I.S. since the beginning of 2007 in developing projects for polysilicon manufacturing, including TCS. Currently there are 10 polysilicon feedstock manufacturing projects under development in the C.I.S., including the following ones:

 • NITOL – starting from 2009, 3.7K per month

• Solar Export – from 1 K tons in 2009 to 2.5K tons per year later

• Russian Silicon – 2010, 3K tons per year

• Renova Orgsyntes – 2K-4K tons per year starting from 2009

• Poldosky Plant – production volume unknown

• Zaporozhye – 3K tons per year starting from 2010

• Kazakhstan LGK – 5K tons per year

• Kazakhstan TSK – 3K tons per year

• Synthetic Technologies – 500 tons per year

• MininglChemical Combine – already started poly manufacturing at the end of 2007.

The two major technology and equipment suppliers for all the above projects are GT Solar Incorporated, U.S.A. and SolMic, Germany.