IBM, Micron to build hybrid memory with TSVs

EE Times staff -- EDN, November 30, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- Micron Technology Inc's hybrid memory cube (HMC) will become the first commercial CMOS manufacturing technology to employee IBM Corp's through-silicon via (TSV) process, the companies said Thursday (December 1).

According to IBM (Armonk, NY), the TSVs will enable Micron's HMC devices to achieve speeds 15 times faster than current technology. HMC parts will be manufactured at IBM's advanced semiconductor fab in East Fishkill, NY, using the company's 32-nm, high-K metal gate process technology, the companies said.

In October, Micron and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd announced the formation of an open consortium around HMC, a technology that brings DRAM memory and logic processes together into one package to offer potential power efficiency, bandwidth, density, and scalability advantages over traditional DRAM. HMC technology uses advanced TSVs-vertical conduits that electrically connect a stack of individual chips-to combine high-performance logic with Micron's DRAM, the companies said.

IBM said it would the details of its TSV manufacturing breakthrough at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting on December 5 in Washington, DC.

This story was originally posted by EE Times.