Jan 30, 2007 19:27
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Today's mobile applications tend to use
two kinds of central processing unit (CPU), such as a communication
processor and a media processor, to achieve higher performance.
Improvement in the data rate is therefore becoming an important issue.
With increases in memory capacity and in the number of chips being
integrated, system manufacturers are becoming increasingly concerned
about the costs involved. OneDRAMSamsung Electronics recently
announced its 133MHz, 512-Mbyte OneDRAM, a fusion memory chip combining
dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory
(SRAM) on one chip, to address these problems. The fusion memory chip
integrates memory, logic and software into one chip, and is expected to
generate a US$200-million market by 2008, growing to US$2.5 billion by
2011, according to the company.
One of the major
advantages of OneDRAM is its dual port approach, integrating two
dedicated DRAMs for each CPU into one DRAM. This is expected to help
accelerate development of smaller, lighter digital devices with higher
performance, the company explained. In addition, the shared bank
function of the OneDRAM allows data sharing between the two memory
chips, and the data amount can be adjusted to minimize data processing
time between the CPUs. This results in an improved data rate and a
significant reduction in power consumption.
The OneDRAM helps
simplify circuitry in a system and maximize device efficiency. Two
mobile DRAMs can be replaced by one OneDRAM chip to reduce the number
of chips from five to four in a mobile phone. It is also possible to
replace the NOR Flash by changing the chipset hardware so that the
number of chips can be further reduced, to three. With this reduction
in the number of chips, the space required is also reduced - by 50%.
This, combined with the high data rate and lower power consumption,
results in an increase in the speed of mobile phones, longer battery
life, and slimmer handset designs. Fusion in
Multimedia PlatformMtekvision Co has recently
launched what is said to be the industry's first multimedia platform to
use the fusion memory chip from Samsung. The platform is optimized,
with the communication processor and the multimedia processor sharing
data, and with the co-work centering on the memory chip. (The previous
platform was designed to be communication chip-centric.) Mtekvision
expects the platform to improve the performance of mobile handsets.
"The platform provides benefits for use as a central memory for various
types of mobile device, in addition to mobile handsets," said Se-jin
Kang, managing director of Mtekvision.
"By applying the
OneDRAM in our new multimedia platform, we can avoid excessive
overlapping development due to the competition for leadership between
communication chip and multimedia chip. As a result, device developers
can reduce development cost while handset manufacturers can implement
differentiated functions at a more competitive price."by Luz Park
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