Samsung develops DDR5 memory based on HKMG technology.
Samsung Electronics has developed a high capacity DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) module. The South Korean tech giant said its 512-gigabyte (GB) Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) module will be the industry’s first DDR5 product to use a High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) solution that reduces power dissipation.
DDR5 is the next generation standard for DRAM. According to Samsung, the latest DDR5 product delivers more than twice the performance of DDR4 at up to 7,200 megabits per second. This is enough speed to process two 30 GB ultra-high definition films in one second.
According to Samsung, HKMG technology traditionally used in logic chips uses a high dielectric material in the insulation layer to reduce power loss.
The HKMG process was incorporated into Samsung’s GDDR6 memory for the first time in the industry in 2018 before expanding to DDR5 memory, reports the Yonhap news agency.
According to Samsung, the DDR5 module with HKMG solution consumes 13 percent less electricity than products with existing process technology. This makes it suitable for data centers that are looking for energy efficiency.
“By bringing this type of process innovation to DRAM manufacturing, we can offer our customers high-performance, yet energy-efficient storage solutions to power the computers needed for medical research, financial markets, autonomous driving, smart cities and beyond.” said son Young-soo, vice president of DRAM memory planning at Samsung.
Samsung said it also applied through silicon via (TSV) technology to the latest DDR5 memory to stack eight layers of 16 Gigabit DRAM chips for the industry’s highest capacity of 512 GB.
The company was the first to use the TSV solution in DRAM chips in 2014 when it introduced server modules with capacities up to 256 GB.
Samsung says it is currently testing different variants of its DDR5 memory products for customer review, and adds that it is working closely with partners, including Intel Corp., to expand their use.
“Intel’s development teams are working closely with leading memory companies like Samsung to deliver fast, low-power DDR5 memory that is performance-optimized and compatible with our upcoming scalable Intel Xeon processors, codenamed Sapphire Rapids,” said Carolyn Duran, vice president and General Manager for Memory and I / O Technology at Intel.
