To: Alan Hume who wrote (29131 ) 9/10/1999 8:57:00 AM From: Bilow Respond to
Hi Alan Hume; Re embedded DRAM vs. Rambus...In addition, certain semiconductor companies have recently introduced a new kind of IC which combines logic and DRAM on the same chip. Such chips, called "embedded DRAM," eliminate the need for any chip-to-chip interface and are primarily being used for graphics applications. Embedded DRAMs are well suited for applications where component space saving and power consumption are important, such as in the graphics subsystems of notebook PCs. There can be no assurance that competition from embedded DRAMs will not increase in the future. NEC, with Nintendo, renews embedded DRAM push NEC will ramp its 0.18-micron process to put as much as 16 Mbytes (128Mb) of memory on the graphics processor being designed by Nintendo and ArtX ... techweb.com Process is said to impose minimal mask penalties -- IBM embeds DRAM in 0.18-micro ASICs When IBM unveiled the technology at December's International Electron Devices Meeting, the cell size for a bit of embedded DRAM was said to be 0.62 micron2. By tightening the back-end wiring, that has shrunk to 0.56 micron2, or roughly 1.5 times the cell size of IBM's standalone 64-Mbit DRAMs. techweb.com Market researcher Dataquest said it predicts the embedded DRAM market will soar from roughly $460 million in 1998 to $7.75 billion in 2001. ... 64 megabits techweb.com NeoMagic, Infineon team for graphics techweb.com The efforts are not unlike the changes on the motherboard, where high-speed DRAMs such as Direct Rambus will dramatically boost bandwidth of PC main memory so as not to bog down CPU performance. ... techweb.com Silicon Motion sees savings in shift to discrete DRAM -- Graphics-chip vendor takes memory off-chip techweb.com MediaQ's display controller features embedded DRAM techweb.com One-transistor SRAM lures game maker -- Nintendo lifts MoSys 128 Mbits of 1T-SRAM can be embedded in logic devices. techweb.com integration of hard-disk chips The price is expected to drop to $10 by 2003, largely by shrinking the number of chips on the board to one digital IC with on-board DRAM. techweb.com graphics-with-logic device integration for low-cost PCs. techweb.com PC price erosion spurs graphics-on-logic ICs "Integrating these functions and getting rid of the frame buffer allows the OEM to eliminate $20 in memory-chip costs and saves on-board real estate and power consumption as well," he said. techweb.com With 4 Mbytes of SGRAM on board, Silicon Motion scheme outdoes embedded DRAM An MCB can carry more DRAM than an embedded-memory chip but can't match the potential of embedded memory to boost bandwidth and, thus, overall processing speed. techweb.com Toshiba Processor May Be Brains Of PlayStation Toshiba brought back a group of DRAM design engineers and put many of them to work on developing a "merged" DRAM-in-logic process. Toshiba has used that technology in its ASIC business. Also, the company has converted a DRAM fab at its complex in Oita, Japan, and upgraded it to 0.25-micron merged process capabilities. techweb.com
