Samsung Electronics announced today that it has developed and
started sampling the industry's first monolithic four gigabit
(Gb), low power double-data-rate 2 (LPDDR2) DRAM using 30
nanometer (nm) class technology in November.
The chip will be used in high-end mobile applications such as
smartphones and tablet PCs.
"The mobile device market is gaining momentum with the advent of
tablet PCs, which is adding significantly to the already surging
smartphone segment," said Jun-Young Jeon, vice president, memory
product planning team, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will work
closely with mobile device designers to bring high-performance,
high-density mobile solutions to market as rapidly as possible."
The new 4Gb LPDDR2 DRAM can transfer up to 1,066 megabits per
second (Mbps), which approaches the performance of memory
solutions for PC applications. It more than doubles the
performance of the industry's previous mobile DRAM - MDDR, which
operates between 333Mbps and 400Mbps.
Starting this month, Samsung will begin sampling 8Gb LPDDR2 DRAM
by stacking two 4Gb chips in a single package, as it is expected
that 8Gb will become the mainstream density for the mobile DRAM
market next year.
Until now, an 8Gb (1GB) LPDDR2 DRAM used four 2Gb chips. With the
new Green 4Gb LPDDR2, the 8Gb solution offers a 20 percent
package height reduction (0.8mm vs. 1.0mm) and will save 25
percent of the power consumed by the previous 8Gb package that
used four 2Gb chips. This enables thinner, lighter mobile devices
with longer battery life.
Samsung developed a 2Gb LPDDR2 DRAM chip based on 40nm-class
technology in February of this year and has been providing that
solution since April to cope with the rising demand for advanced
mobile DRAMs. With the new 30nm-class 4Gb chip, Samsung will meet
the increasing needs for high-density LPDDR2 solutions, as the
smartphone and tablet PC markets expand throughout 2011. It also
plans to provide 16Gb (2GB) LPDDR2 DRAM by stacking four of the
4Gb chips, as capacity needs continue to grow.
According to iSuppli, shipments of mid to high-end smartphones
will increase at about an 18 percent annual rate from 2009 to
2014. This signals dramatic expansion of the mobile DRAM market
overall, which may register as much as 64 percent growth in
mobile DRAM use during the same period, iSuppli also reported.