Samsung reveals 50nm-class mobile DRAM with 1Gbps interface

Posted on Monday, February 21 2011 @ 13:12 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Samsung announced the development of 1Gb mobile DRAM made using 50nm-class process technology. This new memory will find its way to portable devices like smartphones and tablets.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the development of 1 gigabit (Gb) mobile DRAM with a wide I/O interface, using 50 nanometer class* process technology. The new wide I/O mobile DRAM will be used in mobile applications, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

"Following the development of 4Gb LPDDR2 DRAM (low-power DDR2 dynamic random access memory) last year, our new mobile DRAM solution with a wide I/O interface represents a significant contribution to the advancement of high-performance mobile products," said Byungse So, senior vice president, memory product planning &application engineering at Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to aggressively expand our high-performance mobile memory product line to further propel the growth of the mobile industry."

The new 1Gb wide I/O mobile DRAM can transmit data at 12.8 gigabyte (GB) per second, which increases the bandwidth of mobile DDR DRAM (1.6GB/s) eightfold, while reducing power consumption by approximately 87 percent. The bandwidth is also four times that of LPDDR2 DRAM (which is approximately 3.2GB/s).

To boost data transmission, Samsung's wide I/O DRAM uses 512 pins for data input and output compared to the previous generation of mobile DRAMs, which used a maximum of 32 pins. If you include the pins that are involved in sending commands and regulating power supply, a single Samsung wide I/O DRAM is designed to accommodate approximately 1,200 pins.

Following this wide I/O DRAM launch, Samsung is aiming to provide 20nm-class* 4Gb wide I/O mobile DRAM sometime in 2013. The company's recent achievements in mobile DRAM include introducing the first 50nm-class 1Gb LPDDR2 DRAM in 2009 and the first 40nm-class* 2Gb LPDDR2 in 2010.

Samsung will present a paper related to wide I/O DRAM technology at the 2011 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) being held from February 20 to 24 in San Francisco.

According to iSuppli, mobile DRAM's percentage of total annual DRAM shipments will increase from about 11.1 percent in 2010 to 16.5 percent in 2014.


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Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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