Renesas Electronics intros 576-megabit low-latency DRAM

SANTA CLARA, USA: Renesas Electronics has announced the availability of a family of 576-megabit (Mb) low-latency DRAM products (part numbers μPD48576109, μPD48576118, μPD48576209, μPD48576218 and μPD48576236) for network equipment.

The new products offer doubled memory capacity, 25 percent improved random cycle performance for high-speed reading and writing of data, 33 percent faster operating frequency, and over 10 percent reduction in power consumption compared to the company’s existing 288 Mb low-latency DRAM products.

The 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products provide a dramatic reduction in power consumption per unit of memory capacity compared with earlier products, contributing to better energy efficiency overall and helping to alleviate problems related to heat dispersion when designing network equipment.

With the spread of broadband networks and the advancement of cloud computing, transferring large amounts of data over networks has become routine, and the volume of this network traffic is growing rapidly. This has led to demand for larger capacity, higher speed and reduced power consumption in memory for use in network equipment, such as switches and routers, to assure smooth processing of the increased data traffic and to address the increased importance of energy efficiency. Renesas Electronics’ 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products were developed to meet such a demand.

Key features of the 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products
Large capacity and high speed combined with low power consumption: The 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products achieve faster data read/write speeds and consume substantially lower power than existing low-latency DRAM devices by leveraging the company’s high-speed sense-amplifier technology and low-power memory technology, accumulated through the development of high-speed memory products and utilizing a memory control system that minimizes the memory array area activated during operation.

The result is the doubling of memory capacity from 288 to 576 Mb and a 25 percent increase in random cycle performance during high-speed reading and writing of data from 20 nanoseconds (ns) to 15 ns, compared to Renesas Electronics’ 288 Mb low-latency DRAM products. In addition, the maximum operating frequency has been raised from 400 megahertz (MHz) to 533 MHz, and power consumption has been reduced by more than 10 percent.

Same package as existing 288 Mb low-latency DRAM products to enable shorter development cycles: Though the memory capacity has been doubled, the 576 Mb products use the same package measuring 11 millimeters (mm) × 18.5 mm as Renesas Electronics’ existing 288 Mb low-latency DRAM products.

The adoption of this widely used package with a proven record of high reliability enables customers to increase the performance of their systems in terms of memory capacity and speed, without the need to make major changes to the design of the printed circuit boards. In addition, risks regarding reliability and electrical characteristics are minimized.

Renesas Electronics is unique in that it is the only network memory supplier that offers QDR/DDR SRAM, low-latency DRAM, and ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). The company currently offers a lineup of QDR™ SRAM (18 Mb to 72 Mb), TCAM, and low-latency DRAM (288 Mb, 1.1 Gb), and the addition of the 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products broadens Renesas Electronics’ product offerings.

The company expects memory products to play a key role in boosting the performance and reducing power consumption of network equipment where demand for improved performance continues to grow. The company is therefore committed to continue developing advanced memory solutions for the network equipment market.

Samples of Renesas Electronics’ 576 Mb low-latency DRAM products are available priced at $60 in sample quantities. Production shipments are scheduled to begin in the second half of FY2011 and are expected to reach a combined volume of 2,000,000 units per year by FY2012. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)