Micron Goes Small on DDR2 Memory Chips

Micron Technologies have announced that they have begun shipping world's smallest DDR2 memory chip. The new one-gigabyte DDR2 chip is built on 68-nanometer technology and features a die coating of only 56 mm². This achievement was possible due to Micron's previous technology, called 6F2.

Another key point of the product is the reduced power consumption, as the 68-nanometer process asks for about 20 percent less energy than the previous DDR2 technology. The new memory modules are especially addressing the server and mobile sectors, as well as other domains where low power consumption is a critical operational aspect.

Tests show that a 20 percent in energy savings would dramatically decrease a system's overall power consumption. For instance, when used inside a normal workstation, a single memory module can cut the system power almost 40 watts off, at the cost of no performance compromise.

"Micron continues leading the world in development of advanced memory technology", said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group. "Our 68nm process technology offers our customers best-in-class die sizes, power and speed benefits for their most demanding applications."

The memory chips are expected to enter mass production early in the year to come, while the superior, DDR3 and other low-power products are supposed to appear on the market in the second half of the year. The future DDR3 memory chips will also be designed using the 68-nanometer technology and are alleged to allow for speeds of up to 1600 megabits per second (Mbps).

All the new products wrapped around the 68-nanometer architecture will join Micron's Aspen Memory® family of energy-efficient products, which are specifically designed for applications where power reduction is desired such as data center servers and notebook computers.

Recently, the memory maker have announced their entrance on the solid-state drives market and presented their devices in three form factors.