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Rambus partners gear up for production launch
By Andrew MacLellan
Electronic Buyers' News
(11/10/98, 07:00:17 PM EDT)
The Direct Rambus DRAM production machine is heaving into action with a
horde of product introductions, as chip and module suppliers prepare to
meet anticipated demand for the next-generation memory architecture.
Claiming an advantage in density, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has
launched a 144-Mbit Direct RDRAM chip with error correction coding that
it will support with a 144-Mbyte Rambus In-Line Memory Module (RIMM).
Doubling the capacity of the 72-Mbit Direct RDRAM it rolled out in July,
Samsung said the device will quickly replace lower density parts and
enjoy market dominance well into 2000.
³The 144-Mbit density is critical to getting market acceptance,² said
Avo Kanadjian, vice president of memory marketing for Samsung
Semiconductor Inc., San Jose. ³It will be at price parity with the
64-Mbit version [of Direct RDRAM] by the middle of 1999.²
By the third quarter next year, Samsung will have ramped output to one
million 128- and 144-Mbit DRAM chips per month, including both Direct
RDRAM and PC-100 versions. That number will increase to three million
devices per month in the fourth quarter, Kanadjian said.
In all, Samsung expects the total available market for 128- and 144-Mbit
DRAM to reach 60 million units in 1999. By itself, Direct RDRAM will
account for global sales of $2.6 billion in 1999, reaching $13.5 billion
in 2000, according to the company.
Samsung's 144-Mbit Direct RDRAM chips are made on a 0.23-micron process
technology and can process data at up to 1.6 Gbytes/s. Additionally,
Samsung's 144-MByte RIMM can be expanded to 288 MBytes when both sides
of the PCB are bonded.
While Samsung is making inroads on the density front, Siemens
Semiconductors claims to have the industry's smallest Direct RDRAM
device, a 64/72-Mbit chip that measures just 58 sq. mm. Manufactured on
a 0.2-micron process technology, the chips, which were rolled out this
week, are slated for volume production in mid-1999. Engineering samples
will be available late this year.
³With our 0.2-micron process, Siemens is using the most advanced
technology and offering the smallest 64M/72-Mbit die of any Direct RDRAM
silicon known today,² said Andreas von Zitzewitz, president of the
memory division of Siemens Semiconductors, Cupertino, Calif.
In addition to 64M/72-Mbit Direct RDRAM, Siemens will offer its
customers competing DRAM architectures such as double-data-rate DRAM and
SLDRAM.In a related development, Smart Modular Technologies Inc.,
Fremont, Calif., has unveiled RIMMs in 32-, 64-, and 128-Mbyte densities
based on 64-Mbit Direct RDRAM. Smart will begin limited production of
the RIMMs in the first quarter, according to Bill Johnston, the
company's vice president of marketing.
The module effort required a great deal of behind-the-scenes
preparation, including development of micro-BGA handling technology, and
test software and hardware that included advanced x-ray equipment to
check solder connections. The RIMM design process also demanded
significant engineering expertise to move PCB layout from a digital
technique to transmission line theory to adjust for higher operating
frequencies, Johnston said.
Even as Smart ramps production, the rest of the module market is moving
swiftly to embrace the emerging Rambus technology. Smart's competitor,
Kingston Technology Inc., for instance, is readying RIMM production with
industry partner Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc.
Under an agreement disclosed yesterday, Fountain Valley, Calif.-based
Kingston said it is working with Toshiba to manufacture RIMMs and the
dummy, or so-called Continuity, modules that are required to fill vacant
Direct RDRAM memory slots.
Under the agreement, Kingston will provide Toshiba, Irvine, Calif., with
global just-in-time manufacturing, testing, and order fulfillment
services from manufacturing centers in California, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and
Dublin, Ireland. Toshiba will manufacture the Direct RDRAM die at its
production plant in Yokkaichi, Japan.
The team already has at least one customer to its credit, announcing
that RIMM shipments were sent to Dell Computer Corp. last month. |
