Elpida Memory has begun sample shipments of 4-gigabit Wide IO Mobile RAMTM and 4-gigabit DDR3 Mobile RAM (LPDDR3).

Wide IO Mobile RAM is a next-generation mobile memory chip that offers faster speeds and lower power consumption, designed for smartphones and tablets.

Wide IO Mobile RAM expands the I/O width by using x512-bit, a data width that is more than 10 times larger than the width for existing DRAMs, which enables a data transfer rate of 12.8 gigabytes per second (GB/s) per chip while operating at a low speed of 200MHz. The reduced DRAM speed results in approximately 50% less power consumption compared with DDR2 Mobile RAM (LPDDR2), currently the leading DRAM choice for mobile devices, configured at the same transfer rate.

LPDDR3 is another of Elpida's new next-generation mobile memory. This new chip achieves a data transfer rate that is twice as fast as LPDDR2. A single LPDDR3 has a data transfer rate of 6.4 GB/s or 12.8GB/s based on a two-chip configuration for high-end mobile devices. When compared with LPDDR2 on an identical speed basis, LPDDR3 consumes roughly 25% less power, enabling it to extend the operating time of smartphones and tablet devices.

Sample shipments of both 4-gigabit Wide IO Mobile RAM and 4-gigabit DDR3 Mobile RAM (LPDDR3) have started, and Elpida plans to begin volume production in 2012. Also, both chips will be used to develop two-layer 8-gigabit and four-layer 16-gigabit high-density packages for addition to the company's product line-up.

Elpida plans to promote the Wide IO Mobile RAM and DDR3 Mobile RAM (LPDDR3) as memory chip choices that can strongly support next-generation mobile applications.

4-gigabit Wide IO Mobile RAM

Manufacturing process	30nm CMOS
Memory density	4-gigabit / 8-gigabit / 16-gigabit
Data width	x512-bit
Per pin data transfer rate	200Mbps (Max.)
Supply voltage	VDD1: 1.8V, VDD2/VDDQ: 1.2V
Operating case temperature range	-25 to 85°C

4-gigabit DDR3 Mobile RAM

Manufacturing process	30nm CMOS
Memory density	4-gigabit / 8-gigabit / 16-gigabit
Package	FBGA / PoP (Package on Package)
Data width	x32-bit / x64-bit
Per pin data transfer rate	1600Mbps (Max.)
Supply voltage	VDD1: 1.8V, VDD2/VDDCA/VDDQ: 1.2V
Operating temperature range	-30 to 85°C

Wide IO and LPDDR3

Wide IO has a data input/output (I/O) width more than 10 times greater than the width for conventional memory chips. This enables both higher performance and lower power consumption. LPDDR2 (Low Power DDR2) is a low-power consumption DRAM currently used in smartphones and tablet devices. LPDDR3 is a higher standard of LPDDR2.

Mobile Memory Standard	Wide IO	LPDDR3	LPDDR2
Data Input/Output (I/O) Width	512-bit	32-bit	32-bit
Per pin (I/O) data transfer rate (Max.)	200Mbps	1600Mbps	800Mbps (1066Mbps)
Per device data transfer rate (Max.)	12.8GB/s	6.4GB/s	3.2GB/s (4.3GB/s)
Low-power consumption	***	**	*