Advanced memory technology vendor Samsung Electronics has started mass producing the industry’s smallest, 14-nanometer (nm), DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology.
Following Samsung’s shipment of its EUV DRAM in March of last year, Samsung has increased the number of EUV layers to five to deliver today’s finest, most sophisticated and advanced DRAM process for its DDR5 solutions. Based on the latest DDR5 standard, Samsung’s 14nm DRAM would be ideal for handling ever-growing AI and 5G workloads
“We have led the DRAM market for nearly three decades by pioneering key patterning technology innovations,” said Jooyoung Lee, senior vice president and head of DRAM Product & Technology at Samsung Electronics. “Today, Samsung is setting another technology milestone with multi-layer EUV that has enabled extreme miniaturization at 14nm – a feat not possible with the conventional argon fluoride (ArF) process. Building on this advancement, we will continue to provide the most differentiated memory solutions by fully addressing the need for greater performance and capacity in the data-driven world of 5G, AI and the metaverse.”
EUV Technology
As DRAM continues to scale down the 10nm-range, EUV technology becomes increasingly important to improve patterning accuracy for higher performance and greater yields, stated Samsung. By applying five EUV layers to its 14nm DRAM, the memory technology vendor has achieved the highest bit density while enhancing the overall wafer productivity by approximately 20%. Additionally, according to Samsung itself, the 14nm process can help bring down power consumption by nearly 20% compared to the previous-generation DRAM node.
Leveraging the latest DDR5 standard, Samsung’s 14nm DRAM would help unlock unprecedented speeds of up to 7.2 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is more than twice the DDR4 speed of up to 3.2Gbps.
Samsung intends to expand its 14nm DDR5 product portfolio to support data center, supercomputer and enterprise server applications. Next to that, Samsung anticipates to grow its 14nm DRAM chip density to 24Gb in better meeting the rapidly-growing data demands of global IT systems.
