Elpida claims 100% yield on 40nm DDR3-1600 chips

[Nedjo]

http://www.elpida.com/en/news/2009/12-22.html

http://www.elpida.com/images/eco_dram.jpg



TOKYO, JAPAN, December 22, 2009 - Elpida Memory, Inc. (TOKYO: 6665), Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), today announced that its Hiroshima Plant has begun volume production of 40nm process 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAMs. Since completing development of the DDR3 SDRAM last October it has taken Elpida only two months to ramp up mass production.

The new 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM achieves 44% more chips per wafer compared with Elpida's 50nm DDR3 SDRAM and a 100% yield for DDR3 products that operate at 1.6Gbps, the fastest speed standard for current DDR3. It also supports high-speed products. Compared with 50nm products, it uses about two-thirds less current and supports 1.2V/1.35V operation as well as DDR3 standard 1.5V, resulting in reduced power consumption of around 50%.

Initially, Elpida plans a phased expansion of 40nm 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM mass production at its Hiroshima Plant. In the second quarter of 2010, 40nm process production will also begin at Rexchip, a subsidiary in Taiwan, to increase the manufacture of 40nm process products in order to lower products costs. Depending on conditions in the DRAM market, Elpida may transfer 40nm process technology to foundry partners ProMOS and Winbond to expand production based on this technology to an even higher level.
4GB DDR3-1600 modules @ 1.5V yeah baby!

[ajaidev]

wow thats gr8 yeild..

[Helmore]

Now where are my relatively cheap 4GB RAM modules?

[BrowncoatGR]

Nice. Hope we'll see these hit retail soon.

[iddqd]

pff only 100%? let me know when the go over 120% yield.

[Sly Fox]

pff only 100%? let me know when the go over 120% yield.

:rofl::D

That would be a sight to behold alright!!

[LinkinParkBoy]

4GB DDR3-1600 modules @ 1.5V yeah baby!

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=247&c1=&c2=

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=239426


:up:

[kiwi]

How about 100% survival rate even under xtreme conditions? :p:

[zalbard]

TSMC should learn something here. :D

[alfaunits]

Those are 2x2/4x2GB kits - I think we want 4GB modules in non-ECC form?
(actually I just want cheap 4GB ECC modules or better yet cheap ECC 8GB)

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=247&c1=&c2=
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=239426
:up:

[Kurz]

pff only 100%? let me know when the go over 120% yield.

I plan to be that Deity your looking for.
The Deity of Silicon.

Though... I must first Oversee Fermi a while longer.
The ones at Nvidia have angered me.

[Helmore]

Those are 2x2/4x2GB kits - I think we want 4GB modules in non-ECC form?
(actually I just want cheap 4GB ECC modules or better yet cheap ECC 8GB)

Can you run ECC modules on any P55 motherboard?

[zanzabar]

Can you run ECC modules on any P55 motherboard?

i dont know but with the 1366 u need a xeon, and even though they are the same price as the i7 at the same clock people dont buy them

and i dont think that u need ecc until 16GB

[gumballguy]

TSMC should learn something here. :D

I assume you mean with reference to video card yields. Ram is much easier to make both for manufacturing yield and architectural design 'difficulty' (if you can even call it difficult to design, when compared to video cards).

Even when the 'whole 40nm process was stuffed' it doesnt seem a fair comparison. Its just too apples and oranges.

[Chumbucket843]

i dont know but with the 2366 u need a xeon, and even though they are the same price as the i7 at the same clock people dont buy them

and i dont think that u need ecc until 16GB

soft errors are not just from more ram but smaller processes like this one are more prone to soft errors from smaller feature sizes. the xeon's desktop counter part is a good bit cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010340343+1051749233&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=343&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010340727+1652749609&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=727&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

[alfaunits]

Can you run ECC modules on any P55 motherboard?

I believe you can run ECC on any board - it just won't be used on systems where it's not supported? (donno for sure)
P55 CPUs do not have ECC support so you won't have ECC there.

[dinos22]

me thinks they are not pushing hard enough

lets see some DDR3-1800/2000 yields next too :D

[Etihtsarom]

So what are the implications here for memory prices? They've been getting out of hand lately.

[Levish]

I believe you can run ECC on any board - it just won't be used on systems where it's not supported? (donno for sure)
P55 CPUs do not have ECC support so you won't have ECC there.

from the limited research i did a while back, you need to have a board that says its ECC compatible and a Xeon processor that is compatible with that board to get ECC functionality since the IMC would probably control that function.

as to when you should get ECC vs. normal sticks, its a bit up in the air especially since most users here at the very least stress test and fine tune their setups (or at least they should be) to a much higher degree than most system builders that just rely on qualified parts and call it a day if everything seems to be running fine.

even so, you can't really be too careful imo.

[nn_step]

100% is impossible when dealing with volume, but to say 6 sigma of the production can be sold at a given rating isn't exactly that hard for DRAM.

[FireDragon]

So any ideas what the timings will b like? or im guessing that will b up to the company that receives the IC's and dependent on how they bin them?

Dragon

[zanzabar]

So any ideas what the timings will b like? or im guessing that will b up to the company that receives the IC's and dependent on how they bin them?

Dragon

each part is sold as a bin, the bins are at a jdec voltage and timings at a given speed. so im guessing its 9-9-9-21/24 and 1.5V. im not sure on other makers but micron has a public database for ic from their code names

and the 920 and w3520 are the same msrp of $320

[Russian]

me thinks they are not pushing hard enough

lets see some DDR3-1800/2000 yields next too :D

This...

Seriously, having worked in the industry i find it close to impossible to believe in 100% yields.

[Chumbucket843]

redundancy should improve yields but this is a very low clock speed for 40nm IC. basically 1600MHz is the new 1333MHz, even servers will have ram this fast soon. if 100% of the chips reach 1600MHZ think about the top 1% bin.:shocked:

[DMH]

This...

Seriously, having worked in the industry i find it close to impossible to believe in 100% yields.

Probably they've got a 99,5% or more of yield and they say it's 100% :D

[K404]

Well.....if the IC design is baselined way higher than 800MHz, even the duff ones will probably still be able to do 800MHz @ 9-9-9. Its just tactical binning to avoid waste. Im surprised theres no COMPLETE writeoffs but I guess someone had to get their production line absolutely nailed down eventually :D

[Aberration]

Probably they've got a 99,5% or more of yield and they say it's 100% :D

Doubt it. I would think even 80% yield at this feature size would be a miracle for for just 1 lot, let alone continually repeat it.

[zanzabar]

ram isnt the same as a cpu or gpu, its much easier to make