TecTrends: IBM Pares Speed Gap in Memory Circuitry

IBM Corp. says that it has made a breakthrough in the development of circuitry designed to store data on future microprocessor chips. IBM reports that its approach is based on using the most common memory technology in a new way and that it could triple the amount of data stored on a typical microprocessor, doubling computing power as a result. Microprocessors have increasingly come with storage circuitry in order to minimize the delays that occur when fetching data from external memory chips. This 'cache memory' generally uses a type of circuitry known as SRAMs, or static random-access memories. SRAMs are fast, but they need six transistors to store one bit of data. The more commonly used DRAMs, or dynamic random-access memories, require only one transistor and a capacitor to store one bit. DRAMs can store more data in a smaller space, but they have generally been thought too slow for use as cache memory. Researchers at IBM are exploiting a manufacturing technology called 'silicon-on-insulator,' and they have developed very fast DRAM circuitry to be used as cache memory. Subramanian Iyer, a director of manufacturing process development at IBM, estimates that it takes 1.5 nanoseconds to fetch data from its enhanced DRAM technology, compared to 10 to 12 nanoseconds for conventional DRAM and 0.8 to 1.0 nanosecond for SRAM.

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