Samsung builds a super-dense memory chip
These chips don’t look like much. The black things are individual dynamic random access memory chips that are attached to modules that snap into the main circuit board of a computer.
But these chips from Samsung Electronics are made with one of the most advanced manufacturing processes in the world. The company said it has made the world’s first four-gigabit DDR3 DRAM chips using a 50-nanometer manufacturing technology. The 50 nanometers, or 50 billionths of a meter, refers to the distance between electrical circuits.
The chips are a high-end technology that will be used in data centers that need densely packed electronics that don’t throw off as much heat. When you move to a smaller circuit, the electrical signals can move faster and you can get by with less power. Samsung can thus claim that these new chips can be used in “green” servers. (That’s kind of a joke, when you think about how much electricity servers use). Nevertheless, it’s a pretty good achievement to create faster chips that use less power. It translates into lower power costs, smaller power supplies, lower maintenance and repair fees etc.
It’s a breakthrough, for sure. But we’ll see another one in the next 18 months or so, as dictated by the relentless advance of Moore’s Law. Just in September, Samsung celebrated the launch of its first 50-nm two-gigabyte DDR3 DRAM chips. DDR3 will account for 29 percent of the DRAM market in 2009 and about 75 percent in 2011, according to market researcher IDC.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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