Elpida Memory, Japan has for the first time overtaken Samsung in the race to miniaturize microchip technology, developing the world’s first DRAM made with a 25-nanometer manufacturing process. The Japanese firm Elpida overtook its Korean rival Samsung 19 years after Samsung developed a 64 MB DRAM chip in 1992. Using the most advanced process technology available Elpida has achieved the industry’s smallest chip size for a 2-gigabit SDRAM. The newly developed 25nm DRAM process technology requires 30% less cell area per bit compared with Elpida’s 30nm process. The chip output for a 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM wafer using the new process is about 30% higher versus 30nm.
The 25nm process 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM can support ultra-fast performance above DDR3-1866 (1866Mbps) and is compliant with low-voltage 1.35V high-speed DDR3L-1600 (1600Mbps). The new Elpida SDRAM is an eco-friendly as it contributes to lower energy consumption by PCs and digital consumer electronics. By the end of 2011 Elpida also plans to begin volume production of 4-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM products using the 25nm process. Both sample shipments of the new 25nm 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM and volume production are expected to begin in July 2011. Samsung currently produces chips using a 30-nanometer process, but a spokesman claimed it too will start mass production using a 25-nanometer process this year.