As a part of their Q1’19 earnings announcement, SK Hynix has disclosed that the corporate will each improve its output of DRAM made utilizing its 1st technology 10 nm-class manufacturing course of (aka 1X nm), and can begin to promote DRAMs made utilizing its 2nd technology 10 nm-class fabrication know-how (aka 1Y nm) within the second half of this 12 months. The accelerated transition to 10 nm-class applied sciences will allow the corporate to extend DRAM bits output, reduce its prices finally, and put together for next-gen varieties of reminiscence.
The first merchandise to be made utilizing SK Hynix’s 1Y nm manufacturing know-how might be its 8 Gb DDR4-3200 reminiscence chips. The maker stated that the brand new course of allowed it to shrink die dimension of an 8 Gb DDR4 gadget by 20% and scale back its energy consumption by 15% when in comparison with an analogous gadget made utilizing its 1X nm fabrication know-how. Furthermore, SK Hynix’s upcoming 8 Gb DDR4-3200 chips function two very important enhancements: a 4-Phase Clocking scheme in addition to the Sense Amplifier Control know-how. The 4-Phase Clocking will increase sign power to maintain stability at excessive knowledge switch charges. Meanwhile, the SAC reduces probability of knowledge errors that will happen when transistor sizes shrink.
While the stated applied sciences might be vital even this 12 months for DDR4, SK Hynix will reportedly use its 1Y nm fabrication course of to make DDR5, LPDDR5, and GDDR6 DRAMs. Therefore, it’s essential for the corporate to ramp up its 2nd technology 10 nm-class manufacturing know-how as quickly as attainable to arrange for the longer term. Moreover, SAC might be vital for next-gen course of applied sciences as nicely.
SK Hynix has been reasonably sluggish with its transition to 10 nm-class DRAM manufacturing applied sciences. Micron and Samsung have been transport merchandise made utilizing their 2nd technology 10 nm-class fabrication processes since 2018, whereas SK Hynix was combating its 1st gen 10 nm-class know-how for DRAMs till pretty not too long ago. Meanwhile, it seems to be like SK Hynix’s 2nd technology 10 nm-class fabrication know-how is on-track for use for industrial merchandise within the second half of 2019.
Sources: SK Hynix, TrendForce
