Samsung has announced that it has started mass production of industry's first 10 nanometer (nm) class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM chips and modules based on those chips.

Based on currently available ArF (Argon Fluoride) immersion lithography, the new 10nm class DRAM chips mark a new milestone for the company after the first mass produced 20nm 4Gb DDR3 DRAM back in 2014.

The new manufacturing process and 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM chips will significantly improve wafer productivity by up to 30 percent, compared to the 20nm 8Gb DDR4 DRAM. The new chips support data transfer rate of 3,200 Mbps, which is significantly higher compared to 2,400Mbps on the 20nm DDR4 DRAM and consume 10 to 20 percent less power.

The new 10nm-class DDR4 DRAM also bring a couple of other key improvements including improvements in proprietary cell design technology, QPT (quadruple patterning technology) lithography, and ultra-thin dielectric layer deposition.

Making a DRAM is a bit more harder compared to NAND flash memory as each cell also requires a capacitor and a transistor which are linked together.

Thanks to these advancements, Samsung also expects to introduce a 10nm-class mobile DRAM with high density and higher speed later this year.

Currently, Samsung will offer wide range of 10nm-class DDR4 modules in capacities ranging from 4GB for notebooks to 128GB for enterprise servers and plans to include new 10nm-class DRAM products in its lineup during this year.



Source: Samsung.com.