Innovative Silicon (ISi), a developer of DRAM technology based on a single transistor cell and licensed its technology called Z-RAM to manufacturer Hynix Semiconductor.
According to ISi, the use of a single transistor bitcell, rather than a combination of transistors and capacitor elements as used in traditional DRAM, increases the potential to create higher density memory devices.
“Z-RAM promises to provide an elegant approach to manufacture dense DRAMs on nanometre processes,” said Sung-Joo Hong, v-p of R&D at Hynix, and the memory company is committing significant resources to develop the technology.
“We see the potential to create a new platform of products based on ISi’s innovation of Z-RAM that will help us maintain and grow our leadership position in the memory market,” said Hong.
First developed in 2002, Z-RAM was initially seen as a technology for embedded memory for use in microprocessors and AMD licensed the technology in 2005.
According to ISi, AMD achieved a x5 increase in memory density compared with embedded SRAM.
In the last year, ISi has focused on developing its second generation technology which will make Z-RAM suitable for use in standalone memory.
This deal with Hynix will see the technology used in standalone memory devices for the first time.
According to Mark-Eric Jones, CEO of ISi, which is a US firm with its engineering base in Switzerland: “Memory chips built using ISi’s Z-RAM technology will be much smaller and cheaper to manufacture.”