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Samsung ready to mass produce EUV-based DRAM in 2021

By Ng Chong Seng - on 25 Mar 2020, 3:40pm

Samsung ready to mass-produce EUV-based DRAM in 2021

(Image: Samsung.)

Samsung just announced that it has successfully shipped a million of its 10nm-class (D1x) DDR4 (Double Date Rate 4) DRAM modules based on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology for customer evaluations.

This news is significant because this is the first time EUV has been applied on DRAM. The milestone also means that Samsung is on track to deploy EUV for its D1a-based DDR5/LPDDR5 memory, which is now expected to go into mass production sometime next year.

For some background, Samsung has been experimenting with EUV for its chips for at least three years now. Long story short, semiconductor manufacturers have long expected ArF (argon fluoride) excimer laser tech, which is currently used to create circuitry patterns on wafers, to be unable to keep on creating finer and finer circuits. Because of its shorter wavelength, the new EUV process will overcome this problem and allow denser patterns to be made. Why we do care? Basically: finer circuits = more components possible in a chip = more powerful and energy efficient devices.

For Samsung, it makes business sense, too. The company estimates the EUV process to double the manufacturing productivity of its 12-inch D1x wafers.

Source: Samsung.

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