Micron Technology unveils 16GB memory chip
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(InfoWorld) - Micron Technology is offering a new 16GB DRAM memory chip it's billing as the densest server-memory module on the market. Micron Technology, in Boise, Idaho, said its new memory module features 72 2Gb double data rate 2 (DDR2) dies that are packaged as 36 4GbGb TwinDie components. Micron said its proprietary TwinDie stacking technology offers fewer and shorter connection routes to the chips, which enable faster access to data in the memory. The retention, reliability and availability of data in computer memory concern enterprises that process large amounts of data, such as banks or shopping Web sites. The 16GB module offers twice the capacity of memory modules available today, said Kevin Kilbuck, senior manager of strategic marketing and product development for Micron. "We are ahead of the pack in terms of density," he said. Micron's move is seen as an "aggressive" market play by Shane Rau, a chip industry analyst at IDC. "It is in keeping with how server makers are keeping up with demand for memory," Rau said. The forecast for the average amount of memory capacity in mid-range servers shipped by the end of 2006 is 38GB, up 60 percent from an average 24GB in 2005, he said, citing IDC research. While Micron's new module is the densest in the industry to date, Rau anticipated that "it will be closely followed by other competitors." Micron's rivals in the memory module market include Munich-based Qimonda; Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea; and Samsung Electronics of Japan. Micron sells to server manufacturers. Some of Micron's customers are evaluating samples of the 16GB memory modules and commercial availability of the product is slated for later this year, the company said.
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Samsung Electronics has developed a 8Gb NAND flash memory adopting technologies of processing chips with circuit width of 60nm, the first of its kind in the industry.
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A small, fully functional, 70-megabit static random access memory computer chip crammed with more than 500,000,000 transistors has been developed by researchers at Intel Corp.
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, 8/30/2004. With 90 nanometer chips now on the market, the race for the next node - 65nm -- is now underway. Intel is on track for initial production of chips based on 65-nanometer process
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Smaller, more efficient memory could double chip performance for gamers and multimedia use by 2008.
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A new semiconductor alloy jointly developed by IBM and its partners will spur the development of faster and smaller memory chips. The companies say the advancements would lead to smaller chips than currently possible with flash memory.
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A 40-nanometer chip production technique is key to making chips smaller, faster, more powerful, and cheaper to produce.
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Chipmaker announces new chipset and reference design for consumer devices and PCs.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., - Intel Corporation has built fully functional SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) chips using 65 nanometer (nm) technology, its next generation high-volume semiconductor manufacturing process.
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By Subashini Selvaratnam  INTEL Corp is working on a new 45-nanometre (nm) transistor technology which will boost the processing speeds in personal computers (PCs), laptops and servers.
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A new chip from Via Technologies, which supplies processors to ultraportables from OQO, Samsung, Packard Bell and others, promises to double the performance of the super-small computers in which it's embedded.
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(InfoWorld) - In an upgrade that could improve chip performance for gamers and multimedia users, IBM plans to double the performance of its microprocessors in 2008 by using smaller, more efficient memory, according to a paper presented at the ISSCC (International Solid State Circuits Conference) trade show in San Francisco Wednesday. IBM plans to use DRAM (dynamic RAM) instead of SRAM (static RAM) as the embedded memory cache built onto each chip. The change will allow each chip to store its data in one-third the area and use one-fifth the electricity for standby power, said Subramanian Iyer, director of 45-nanometer technology development at IBM. The approach will vastly improve chip performance for multicore processors and for applications that need to move large amounts of graphic data, such as gaming, networking and image-intensive multimedia, he said. IBM is already using the new embedded DRAM (eDRAM) in 65nm prototype chips, and plans to roll it out commercially by 2008 for its entire range of 45nm chips, including its Power line. The technology could have a big impact on consumer electronics, since IBM supplies chips for all three of the top gaming consoles; Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360. A typical commercial microprocessor like Intel's Core 2 Duo devotes 60 percent of its surface area to memory, Iyer said. Replacing that with eDRAM cells taking up just one-third as much space will allow chip designers to build smaller chips and reduce the "run lengths," the length of wire that data must travel as it commutes around the chip, said John Barth, senior technology staff member and chief of eDRAM architecture for IBM. IBM has used embedded DRAM in its chips for the BlueGene supercomputer, but those PowerPC processors use moderately performing, bulk-technology DRAM, which is far slower than SRAM. To create the new design, IBM will add a high-speed type of DRAM to its current silicon-on-insulator (SOI) architecture. "This DRAM now is almost as fast as SRAM. It may not be as fast at the micro level, but when you get down to 45nm, it will be faster at the system level. It's going to just blow the doors off," Barth said. "A typical microprocessor takes 14 clock cycles to get data from its cache. Using DRAM slows that down, but only one clock [cycle]. By doubling the amount of memory on the die, we can get double-digit percentage gains at the system level." The advance comes at the same time that several other chip vendors are seeking better ways to move large quantities of graphics data. Advanced Micro Devices evenÂ acquired graphics card maker ATIÂ in 2006, and now plans to combine its graphics power with AMD's processing chips in a single chip called Fusion. That challenge was compounded in February, since Microsoft's new Vista OS has a graphics-intensive interface that demands increased PC storage space, faster processors and even separate graphics cards or coprocessors.
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Micron Technology, trying to take on widely used CCD image sensors, pushes its CMOS technology to 8 megapixels.
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Clever 'perpendicular recording system' boosts storage capacity
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Breaking the speed barrier of traditional flash memory, Intel and Micron Thursday announced a new flash memory architecture that increases the data transfer rates in consumer electronics by cutting the bottlenecks affecting conventional NAND flash memory.
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Dynamic RAM is enjoying a boost in mobile devices, which are hungry for small, cool, power-efficient chips.
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In papers presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) revealed a first-of-its-kind, on-chip memory technology that features the fastest access times ever recorded in eDRAM (embedded dynamic random access memory).