Samsung has begun mass producing DRAM modules with 60
nanometre technology. According to an official announcement, the company's 1
Gigabit DDR2 modules can reach either 667 or 800 Mbps speeds and will be used
in 512 MB, 1 GB and 2 GB memory modules.
Samsung believes that the new process will be 40 percent
more efficient over its existing 80 nm process technology and mean that less
circular wafers are wasted. It is predicting that the total market volume of 60
nm DRAM will rise from $2.3 billion in 2007 to more than $32 billion in the
next two years.
The company claims its new GDDR4 memory is two thirds faster
than the previous GDDR4 memory. At 4GB/s, the memory will eventually find its
way into consumer products such as video cards from ATI and Nvidia. Currently,
most Nvidia and ATI cards still use GDDR3 memory.