DRAM makers readying 333MHz DDR chips

Elpida Memory, Micron Technology, and Samsung Electronics all told EBN at the recent Platform 2001 Conference that they will have PC333 DDR samples by the fourth quarter and in production in the first half of 2002. The higher-speed chips can come in a new FBGA package as well as the traditional TSOP.

Via Technologies Inc. early next year will have chipsets supporting PC333 for Advanced Micro Devices and Intel processors, according to Eric Chang, marketing director at the company's U.S. subsidiary in Fremont, Calif.

A number of other Taiwan-based third-party core-logic vendors are expected in the same time frame to adapt their current DDR chipsets to support higher-speed PC333 and PC2700 modules. Intel has yet to introduce its first DDR chipset, but a version supporting PC333 should follow quickly behind the initial 847 Brookdale, slated for release in the first quarter of 2002.

DDR chip makers will reach a speed of 333MHz as they move increasingly into 0.15-micron processing, said Bill Gervasi, technology director at Santa Clara, Calif.-based Transmeta Corp. and chairman of the JEDEC memory parametrics committee. "They also get some speed improvements from a tighter delay-lock-loop design for greater accuracy during memory read cycles," he said.

Fred Waddel, director of sales at Micron Technology Inc.'s computer and communications group, said 333MHz DDR chips will result in memory module bandwidths of 2.7Mbytes/s for PC2700 modules. In a single-memory-channel PC, the PC2700 is nearly equal to the 3.2Mbyte/s bandwidth of the current Intel Pentium 4 dual-channel Direct Rambus DRAM systems. PC2700 bandwidths in dual memory channels are much greater than Rambus, with 5.4Mbyte/s bandwidth, he said.

One concern for PC333 and PC2700 modules is handling potentially higher temperatures, Gervasi said. However, tighter module designs should take care of any thermal issues, he added.

PC333 is expected to be used initially in servers and high-end workstations. These markets, with less price elasticity, could allow chip makers to get a premium for the new higher-speed chip, Gervasi said. However, others noted that the fiercely competitive DRAM producers have eliminated almost all price premiums for the initial PC266 chips over single-data-rate PC133 SDRAMs at the very beginning of the DDR lifecycle.