Samsung Electronics has begun mass producing what it claims is the industry's smallest, 14nm DRAM based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology. Following the company's shipment of the industry-first EUV DRAM in March 2020, Samsung has increased the number of EUV layers to five to deliver today's finest, most advanced DRAM process for its DDR5 solutions.
As DRAM continues to scale down the 10nm-range, EUV technology becomes increasingly important to improve patterning accuracy for higher performance and greater yields. By applying five EUV layers to its 14nm DRAM, Samsung has achieved the highest bit density while enhancing the overall wafer productivity by approximately 20%, the company indicated. Additionally, the 14nm process can help bring down power consumption by nearly 20% compared to the previous-generation DRAM node, it said.
Leveraging the latest DDR5 standard, Samsung's 14nm DRAM will help unlock unprecedented speeds of up to 7.2Gbps, which is more than twice the DDR4 speed of up to 3.2Gbps, the company disclosed.
Samsung plans to expand its 14nm DDR5 portfolio to support data center, supercomputer and enterprise server applications. Also, Samsung expects to grow its 14nm DRAM chip density to 24Gb in better meeting the rapidly-growing data demands of global IT systems.
"We have led the DRAM market for nearly three decades by pioneering key patterning technology innovations," said Jooyoung Lee, senior VP and head of DRAM product and technology at Samsung. "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."
Samsung 14nm EUV DDR5 memory
Photo: Company
