Elpida Memory on Thursday announced that it has developed a 4Gb DDR2 Mobile DRAM chip that is produced using 30nm process technology. The chips will be utilized for high-end portable devices, such as tablets.

The 4Gb Mobile DDR2 operates at 1066MHz at 1.2V voltage and thus delivers both performance improvements as well as power saving compared to usual mobile DDR memory. According to Elpida, this product achieves the world's smallest class in chip size for a 4Gb LPDDR2.

Currently, the rapidly expanding market for smart phones and tablet PCs is striving to expand the features of its operating systems. As a result, the ideal density of DRAMs is also rapidly on the rise, and there is an increasing need for high density DRAMs – 8Gb for high-end smart phones and 16Gb for high-end tablet PCs. At the same time, there is a strong demand for smaller, thinner and lighter DRAM packages.

Elpida plans to ship the new DDR2 Mobile RAM as package-on-package (PoP), FBGA packages, and as a bare chip for multi chip package (MCP). The company's PoP and FBGA packages fully leverage die-stacking technology to provide an extensive line-up of 8Gb to 16Gb products that can meet a variety of customer needs. The new 4Gb DDR2 Mobile RAM achieves the thinnest package yet at 0.8mm (in the case of an 8-gigabit product consisting of two stacked 4Gb chips), which meets the need for DRAM that is not only higher density, but also thinner packages.

Sample shipments of the new 4Gb DDR2 Mobile RAM will begin in April, and mass production is scheduled to start at Elpida's Hiroshima Plant in June of this year. Production is also planned at Rexchip Electronics Corporation in order to guarantee a stable product supply.

Elpida's rival Samsung Electronics started mass production of 4Gb LPDDR2 at 30nm-class process technology late in March.

Tags: Elpida, DRAM, LPDDR2, 30nm