Japan-based Elpida Memory on March 22 announced the availability of 512Mbit XDR DRAM devices in sample quantities. XDR DRAM is based on the XDR memory interface architecture developed by Rambus, and the new Elpida device operates at a 4.0GHz data rate, providing what the DRAM maker calls an industry-leading data transfer rate of 8.0GB/sec within a single device. The memory will be targeted at digital consumer electronics applications such as high definition televisions (HDTV), gaming consoles and home entertainment server systems that require high bandwidth to support 3-D graphics, digital imaging and advanced multimedia.
Elpida's 512Mbit XDR DRAM (EDX5116ACSE) devices are organized as 4M words×16-bits×8 banks, and have a 4.0GHz operation and 8.0GB/sec data transfer rate, which is more than 4 times the peak bandwidth of industry-standard DDR2 memory devices. They are manufactured using Elpida's 90nm process technology and are available in 104-ball FBGA packages.
The devices utilize advanced Rambus-specific features such as Differential Rambus Signal Level (DRSL) interface, which minimizes the signal swing and noise, and Octal Data Rate (ODR), which transfers 8 bits per clock cycle to achieve 4.0GHz operation even with the commonly used 400MHz clock. The 512Mbit XDR devices also feature programmable on-chip termination, adaptive impedance matching, dynamic request scheduling and zero overhead refresh.
Elpida's 512 Megabit XDR DRAM devices are currently sampling to customers. Volume production is expected to begin based on market demand.