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Computer memory types


Z-RAM, short for "zero capacitor RAM" is a new type of computer memory in development by Innovative Silicon Inc. Z-RAM offers performance similar to the standard six-transistor SRAM cell used in cache memory but uses only a single transistor, and therefore offers much higher densities. It is also denser than conventional one-transistor, one-capacitor DRAM used for the majority of a modern computer's main memory, although it is unlikely to appear in this role in the short term due to the requirement to be built on only the newest generation fabs.

Z-RAM relies on an effect known as the floating body effect, which was first encountered in CPU design based on the new silicon on insulator (SOI) process introduced in the early 2000s. This effect causes capacitance to form between the transistor and the underlying insulating substrate, and was a problem that needed to be solved in conventional designs. The same effect, however, allows a DRAM-like cell to be built using the transistor only, the floating body effect taking the place of the conventional capacitor. Consisting of only one part instead of two, Z-RAM offers twice the density of DRAM, and five times that of SRAM.

The small cell size leads, in a roundabout way, to Z-RAM being faster than even SRAM, with SRAM normally much faster than DRAM. SRAM's large cell size means that any "reasonable" amount of SRAM cache takes up a large portion of the CPU die. The long traces needed to carry current into the cells have a capacitance of their own, and requires the driver circuitry to "slow down" in order to allow the charge to settle. Although Z-RAM's individual cells are not as fast as SRAM, the lack of the long lines allows a similar amount of cache to be run at roughly the same speeds by avoiding this delay while taking up less space. Response times as low as 3ns have been stated.

AMD has licensed the second generation Z-RAM [1] to research it for potential use in their future processors. DRAM producer Hynix has also licensed Z-RAM for use in DRAM chips.[2]

See also

  • TTRAM

References

External links

Computer data storage, computer memory, and often casually storage or memory refer to computer components, devices and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time.
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Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage or primary storage device, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply.
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eDRAM stands for "embedded DRAM", a capacitor-based dynamic random access memory usually integrated on the same die or in the same package as the main ASIC or processor, as opposed to external DRAM modules and transistor-based SRAM typically used for caches.
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1T-SRAM is MoSys's implementation of embedded DRAM on a conventional digital-logic (standard-cell) ASIC process.

Conventional DRAM devices (ICs) are designed and built for heavily DRAM-optimized processes to maximize bit density, rendering traditional DRAM cell designs
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The Williams tube or (more accurately) the Williams-Kilburn tube (after Freddie Williams and co-worker Tom Kilburn), developed about 1946 or 1947, was a cathode ray tube used to electronically store binary data.
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Delay line memory was a form of computer memory used on some of the earliest digital computers. Like many modern forms of electronic computer memory, delay line memory was a refreshable memory, but as opposed to modern random access memory, delay line memory was serial
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The Selectron was an early form of digital computer memory developed by Jan A. Rajchman and his group at the Radio Corporation of America under the direction of Vladimir Zworykin, of television technology fame.
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Non-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered.
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EPROM, or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of computer memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile.
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An EEPROM (also called an E2PROM) or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, is a non-volatile storage chip used in computers and other devices to store small amounts of volatile (configuration) data.
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Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards, and USB flash drives (thumb drives, handy drive, memory stick, flash stick, jump drive) for general storage and transfer of data
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Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM or FRAM[1]) is a type of non-volatile computer memory. It is similar in constructionDRAM, which is currently used in the majority of a computer's main memory, but uses a ferroelectric layer to achieve non-volatility.
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This article contains information about scheduled or expected .
It may contain preliminary or speculative information, and may not reflect the final specification of the product.
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This article contains information about scheduled or expected .
It may contain preliminary or speculative information, and may not reflect the final specification of the product.
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Sonos

Private
Founded 2003
Headquarters Santa Barbara, California

Key people John MacFarlane, CEO
Industry Audio equipment
Products Sonos Digital Music System
Employees 80 (2006 approx.)
Website www.sonos.
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This article contains information about scheduled or expected .
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Nano-RAM, is a proprietary computer memory technology from the company Nantero.
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Drum memory was an early form of computer memory that was widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s, invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria. For many machines, a drum
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Magnetic core memory, or ferrite-core memory, is an early form of computer memory. It uses small magnetic ceramic rings, the cores, to store information via the polarity of the magnetic field they contain.
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Bubble memory is a type of non-volatile computer memory that uses a thin film of a magnetic material to hold small magnetized areas, known as bubbles, which each store one bit of data.
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Computer data storage, computer memory, and often casually storage or memory refer to computer components, devices and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time.
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Static random access memory (SRAM) is a type of semiconductor memory. The word "static" indicates that the memory retains its contents as long as power remains applied, unlike dynamic RAM (DRAM) that needs to be periodically refreshed (nevertheless, SRAM should not be
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CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations.
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A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier or an electrically controlled switch. The transistor is the fundamental building block of the circuitry in computers, cellular phones, and all other modern electronic devices.
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DRAM types
  • FPM RAM
  • EDO RAM
  • Burst EDO RAM
  • SDRAM
  • SDR SDRAM
  • DDR SDRAM
  • DDR2 SDRAM

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foundry see foundry (disambiguation).
Fabs redirects here. For the antibody region, see Fragment antigen binding.


In the microelectronics industry, a foundry (also called a fab
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The floating body effect is the effect of dependence of the body potential of a transistor realized by the silicon on insulator technology on the history of its biasing and the carrier recombination processes. The transistor's body forms a capacitor against the insulated substrate.
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CPU design is the design engineering task of producing a CPU, a component of computer hardware. It is a subfield of electronics engineering and computer engineering.

Overview

CPU design focuses on these areas:
  1. Datapaths (such as ALUs and pipelines)

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Silicon on insulator technology (SOI) refers to the use of a layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing, especially microelectronics.
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capacitor is an electrical/electronic device that can store energy in the electric field between a pair of conductors (called "plates"). The process of storing energy in the capacitor is known as "charging", and involves electric charges of equal magnitude, but opposite polarity,
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In microelectronics, a wafer is a thin slice of semiconducting material, such as a silicon crystal, upon which microcircuits are constructed by doping (for example, diffusion or ion implantation), chemical etching, and deposition of various materials.
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