Post a Comment
FROM EDN EUROPE: Cut power in mobile memory
-- EDN, 3/1/2001
You can cut the power contribution due to system memory in handheld devices with Infineon's Mobile-RAM, a low-power SDRAM. Mobile-RAM comes in a chip-scale BGA package and has a very small form factor and low cost per bit. The first component is based on 128-Mbit die, measures 8 Mbit´16, and works in both 16- and 32-bit environments. A combination of reduced operating voltage (2.5V for the array, as low as 1.8V for I/O) and power-management techniques cut overall power demand by as much as 80%. These power-management techniques include temperature compensation of the internal self-refresh and selectable use of self-refresh on only a portion of the memory. Infineon is working to standardise the fine-pitch 54-ball BGA through JEDEC, and sampling begins in the second quarter of 2001.
Infineon also plans to work with IBM to develop nonvolatile magnetic RAM (MRAM), based on a structure called the magnetic tunnel junction, with which IBM has built working demonstration devices. This partnership is one of a number of collaborations working on different MRAMs. The objective of such collaborations is to produce a low-power successor to DRAM that provides "instant-on" products.
—by Graham Prophet
This article ran on page 18 of the March 1, 2001 issue of EDN.
