Notebook and Smartphone RAM: Samsung LPDDR5-6400 in 1z EUV production is start

Samsung LPDDR5-6400 in 1z EUV

Samsung say the bar further for memory in mobile devices and announced at the weekend that 16 Gbit-LPDDR5 chips are coming from the plants in Pyeongtaek, Korea, which are in the most advanced 1z manufacturing process with the help of EUVLithography can be produced.

Samsung LPDDR5-6400 in 1z EUV production is start

1z in the DRAM terminology stands for the third production stage of a process that is located within 10 to 20 nm. It is assumed that in comparison to Logic chips, which are running in 5 nm off the production line for the first time these days, it should be 12 nm at best. The long-used manufacturing step 1x previously covered everything between 16 nm and 19 nm, the stage 1y between 14 nm and 16 nm. This would fit into the picture, as it is generally said that DRAM is two to three generations behind logic manufacturing.

It is surprising, however, that EUV is already being used extensively. Samsung had, as among other things the competitor SK Hynix long explained, still completely to do without EUV at 1z. Samsung does not reveal how many layers of the new DRAM chips are coated with ultraviolet light and how many still rely on classic immersion lithography. Presumably, EUV is only used for a few critical layers, as was the case with the logic chips at the beginning.

Bigger, faster, thinner

With the introduction of the new production step, Samsung can now also increase the speed by 16 percent in addition to the capacity, from LPDDR5-5500 to LPDDR5-6400. Compared to the 12 Gbps predecessor from the 1y production, of which a 16 GB chip still required stacks of eight 12 Gbit and four 8 Gbit chips, the same capacity can now be provided with only eight 16 Gbit chips. The package is therefore 30 percent thinner and should be suitable for extremely narrow devices.

According to Samsung, the first deliveries of the new chips have already been made, and their own products are traditionally at the forefront. So far, however, even the new Galaxy Note 20 and the following Galaxy Fold 2 still rely on LPDDR5-5500 and a size of maximum 12 GByte - the next step will therefore probably include size and speed.