Samsung Unveils Fusion Memory For Mobile Apps

Samsung (Seoul, South Korea) said it expects the fusion memory, OneDRAM, to be used in handsets, game consoles and in other digital applications, especially those that use 3-D graphics.

Gang-Gyu Hwang, CEO of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business, predicted the upcoming "fusion" era will meld such fields as biotechnology, healthcare, robotics, aerospace, solar cells and environmentally friendly R&D.

"Semiconductor advancements will play a pivotal role in enabling this new trend," said Hwang at the 2006 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here.

According to Samsung, the 133-MHz, 512-Mb OneDRAM device, successor to the company's OneNAND fusion memory, incorporates a dual-port approach designed to decrease the time it takes to transfer data between processors. Data managed by the processors is housed in a shared bank where the space for storing the data can be adjusted accordingly, Samsung said, meeting the JEDEC, low-power, double-data-rate memory standard.

Designers have been specifying the use of separate communications and media processors to meet rapidly increasing demand for multimedia features in cellphones. OneDRAM will channel data between the processors through a single chip, eliminating the need to also specify DRAM and SRAM chips for buffer memory, according to Samsung.

Samsung claims the OneDRAM reduces power consumption by 30 percent, lessens the number of chips needed and minimizes area coverage by 50 percent, resulting in a five-fold increase in the speed of cellphone and gaming console operations, longer battery life and slimmer handset designs. A single OneDRAM can replace at least two mobile memories in high-end smart phones and other multimedia-rich handsets, according to Samsung.

Samsung said it expects OneDRAM to be introduced in handsets by the second half of 2007.

Samsung's Hwang said that "unlike the paradigm shift from the personal computer to mobile and digital consumer applications, the introduction of massive-scale fusion technology will change the way we develop and harness semiconductor technologies," substantially improving the level of day-to-day convenience for consumers.

Hwang cautioned that the industry must still overcome multiple hurdles. First, he said, it is essential to overcome today's limits in nanotechnology. The industry must move beyond today's silicon-patterning limitations, ensuring controllability of limited sums of electrons, and minimizing intercell noise, which has caused bottlenecks in two-dimensional structures. Then the industry can forge ahead to successfully develop high-density, ultrasmall, multifeatured semiconductor chips that address cross-industry issues, he said.

A 3-D approach to transistor design should counter the apparent dead end in ultrafine process technology, resolving such technology limitations, Hwang said.

Samsung presented two papers on 3-D silicon wire technology at IEDM that represent critical advancements in enabling ultrafine process technology with a wire diameter of five nanometers.

The core element will be a complex integration of different types of devices such as memories, logic, sensors, processors and software, together with new materials, and advanced die stack technologies, all based on 3-D silicon technology.