Samsung Develops 1Gb Chip for Handheld Devices (UPDATED)

(This story has been modified to correct the description of the capacity of Samsung Electronics’ new Mobile DRAM chip.)

Samsung Electronics has developed a thin, low-power, 1-gigabit chip for portable devices such as cameras, media players and game consoles.

The 1-gigabit Mobile dynamic RAM chip, which the South Korean manufacturer claims is an industry first using 80-nanometer process technology, will start shipping in the second quarter of 2007, the company said Wednesday.

The chip has a new temperature-sensing feature that maximizes the self-refresh cycle to reduce power drain in standby mode by 30 percent over conventional memory chip designs, according to Samsung.

In addition, the chip is at least 20 percent thinner than a multistack package of 512-megabit dies, enabling a single high-density package system of 1.5-gigabit or even 2-gigabit Mobile DRAM memory, the company said.

The new Samsung chip can also be combined with Flash memory via package-on-package designs.

— John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)

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