Samsung Now Producing Industry’s first Highest Density Mobile LPDDR2 Memory, Using 20nm-class Technology

May 18, 2012 | Comments | Tomorrow Works

Samsung Electronics announced today that it has begun producing the industry’s first four gigabit (Gb), low power double-data-rate 2 (LPDDR2) memory chip using 20 nanometer (nm) class* technology. The mobile DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip, which went into mass production last month, will help the market deliver advanced devices that are faster, lighter and provide longer battery life in tomorrow’s mobile devices.

 

“Samsung began expanding the market for 4Gb DRAM last year with the first mass-produced 30nm-class DRAM, and now we are working on capturing most of the advanced memory market with our new 20nm-class 4Gb DRAM. In the second half of this year, we expect to strongly increase the portion of 20nm-class DRAM within our overall DRAM output to make the 4Gb DRAM line-up the mainstream product in DRAM production, and therefore keeping the leadership position in the premium market and strengthening the competitive edge.” Wanhoon Hong, Executive Vice President, Memory Sales & Marketing

 

Memory is pretty important in today’s technology-driven lifestyles – it’s how we use our apps, store our photos, save our contacts, and more!  As large-screen tablets and smartphones equipped with quad-core CPUs lead rapid growth of the mobile market, the demand for more energy-efficient and higher-capacity memory products that guarantee longer battery life, as well as faster processing speed increases rapidly.

 

Samsung’s 20nm-class 4Gb mobile DRAM is the thinnest, highest-density, and highest-performance mobile memory, which enables ultra-slim mobile designs, as well as superior next-generation systems for both mobile manufacturers and enterprise solution providers.  This DRAM will allow for incredible design changes over the coming years!

 

Furthermore, based on the 4Gb components, Samsung can deliver 2-Gb solutions that boast razor-thin thickness of 0.8 millimeters (mm), which stack four 4Gb LPDDR2 chips in a single LPDDR2 package. This new package is approximately 20% thinner than 2GB packages that stack four 30nm-class 4Gb LPDDR2 chips. Also, the new 2GB package can process data at up to 1,066 megabits per second (Mbps), while spending the same amount of power as that of a previous 30nm-class 2GB package. Benefits of the new 20nm-class 4Gb LPDDR2 will help speed up the growth of the 4Gb DRAM market.

 

Samsung expects the newly introduced 20nm-class 4Gb LPDDR2 will rapidly replace 30nm-class 2Gb-based 1GB LPDDR2 which was in short supply at the 0.8 mm thickness.

 

Production of 20nm-class 4Gb LPDDR2 ensures Samsung the widest range of mobile DRAM products in the industry. This follows the company’s previous achievement with 20nm-class DRAM, which was the industry’s first 20nm-class 8GB DDR3 modules for notebook PCs back in March. 

 

According to tech website IHS iSuppli, shipments of 4Gb LPDDR2 are expected to steadily increase, taking approximately 13% of total DRAM shipments in 2012, 49% in 2013 and 63% in 2014, with 4Gb DRAM becoming the mainstream chip in the DRAM market around the end of 2013.

 

For more information about Samsung Green memory, visit www.samsung.com/GreenMemory

 

* 20nm-class means a process technology node somewhere between 20 and 29 nanometers, while 30nm-class means a process technology node somewhere between 30 and 39 nanometers.