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Technology Stocks : Advanced Micro Devices - Moderated (AMD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NicoV who wrote (184296)	1/19/2006 9:56:44 AM
From: Rink	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

Nico, Z-RAM, very interesting. AMD really does need more dense memory. This Z-RAM does give them just that (5x as dense). Especially useful for post 2007 L3 cache designs. Z-RAM makes this possible by using a single transistor memory cell that uses "the body capacitance of the silicon top layer of SOI" to trap the charge (memory bit). So no need of a separate capacitor. Elegant! As the article says if AMD will chose to go this route it's probably not going to be included in product before 2008, as two years is a usual time from licensing to product availability. So this means that first L3 caches in 2007 will be based on conventional mem cell designs using a single transistor in combination with a separate capacitor instead. Not sure how fast it is an if it can be used for L2 cache as well (probably not??). (CJ, this is partly using data from my fading memory bank upstairs so please correct me should I be wrong.) Regards, Rink EDIT: Link to Innovative Silicon Inc.'s website: innovativesilicon.com Quote: In present System on Chip (SoC) applications, memory already dominates silicon area is steadily increasing with each generation. The most common types of embedded memory in current use are 1T/1C DRAM and 6T SRAM. As CMOS technology achieves sub 100 nm geometries, new memory devices are being considered for DRAM/SRAM replacement. However most of these new memories rely on the integration of exotic materials into a baseline CMOS process and require relatively large cells. Innovative Silicon has developed a true capacitor-less, single transistor DRAM - named Z-RAM for Zero Capacitor DRAM – by harnessing the floating body effect of Silicon on Insulator (SOI) devices. This technology is capable of achieving twice the memory density of existing embedded DRAM technology and five times that of SRAM yet requires no special materials or extra mask/process steps. Roadmap extents to FD-SOI and FinFets as well: innovativesilicon.com