Samsung develops 256Mb UtRAM for mobile phones

Samsung begun development of the industry's first 256-Megabit uni-transistor random access memory (UtRAM), using 90-nanometer process technology. The company said it will provide the first samples to mobile phone manufacturers later this month.

The new 256Mb UtRAM offers unrivaled speed, density and compatibility for feature-rich mobile phone designs. It operates at 133MHz, the fastest of any pseudo-SRAM today. It can process data 1.7 times faster than competing 80MHz pseudo-SRAM devices now on the market, and is expected to allow for higher end multimedia functionality in 3G mobile phones.

UtRAM is Samsung's unique product designation, a type of pseudo-SRAM that has the memory cell configuration of a DRAM and the interface of an SRAM or NOR flash memory device. The 256Mb UtRAM is fully compliant to JEDEC's (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) burst pseudo-SRAM standard.

Samsung's UtRAM is available as a stand-alone device or as a key component within multi-chip packages (MCPs), which recently have become the memory option of choice for mobile phones.

The new 256Mb UtRAM is scheduled for mass production beginning at the end of 2005.

The global market for pseudo-SRAM, of which Samsung holds at least 30 percent, is forecast to grow an annual 33 percent through 2008.

High growth in pseudo-SRAM demand stems from ever-increasing performance requirements of high-performance 3G and other feature-rich mobile phones. Market research firm IDC expects the global market for 3G mobile phones will average 65 percent annual growth through 2008, amounting to 260 million units or 30 percent of the total mobile phone market.