Mitsubishi Samples JEDEC-Standard, 0.25-Micron, 64-Megabit DDR SDRAM For High-Performance Computing Markets.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1998--

Cost-Effective DDR SDRAM Offers Twice the Speed of

Traditional SDRAM and Facilitates Error Correction Better Than Other Advanced DRAM Types

The Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. today announced that it is among the leaders to sample a 64-megabit (Mb) double data rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM). Manufactured in a 0.25-micron CMOS process technology, Mitsubishi's JEDEC-standard 64-Mb DDR SDRAM supports column address strobe latencies (CL) as stringent as CL 1.5. The 64-Mb device is the first in a family of DDR SDRAMs.

"DDR SDRAM has already achieved JEDEC-standard status, which customers appreciate," said Cecil Conkle, assistant vice president of DRAM marketing at Mitsubishi Electronics America. "This new technology is an open, non-proprietary evolution of standard SDRAM which doubles the peak bandwidth and is much easier to use for error correction than other advanced DRAM types. That is why we expect DDR SDRAM to be widely used in high-end servers and workstations for scientific, financial, networking and communications applications. Depending on how development efforts progress for related chipsets, these cost-effective advanced DRAMs may also be popular in high-performance PCs."

"DDR SDRAM could grow to 20 percent or more of the worldwide DRAM market by the year 2001," said Victor de Dios, president of de Dios & Associates, a market research firm specializing in DRAMs. "It is well positioned to achieve mainstream use as main memory in server applications."

DDR SDRAM offers approximately twice the speed of standard SDRAMs with little or no increase in die size. Its availability in a x4 configuration enables system-level error detection and correction more easily than do other advanced DRAM types. This capability is expected to make DDR SDRAM the most popular advanced DRAM type used for main memory in financial, scientific data, networking and communications systems. Customers will also appreciate its familiar evolutionary protocol, based on the one made popular by standard SDRAM.

"Mitsubishi is working with a variety of other companies to explore using DDR SDRAM in other applications," Conkle added. "For example, this relatively low-cost approach is being applied to advanced PCs, which require additional infrastructure elements, such as chipsets, high-speed clock drivers and support for new types of JEDEC-standard modules."

DDR SDRAM achieves twice the clock rate of traditional SDRAM because DDR reads or writes data on both the rising and the falling clock edges of each clock cycle. It features a differential input clock and a stub series terminated logic 2 (SSTL2) interface that is faster than the interface for traditional SDRAMs, which use low-voltage transistor-to-transistor logic (LVTTL). A key reason for the speed increase of the interface is the smaller voltage swing for SSTL2, typically less than half of the voltage for traditional LVTTL. DDR SDRAM also uses a bidirectional data strobe that is synchronized to the source of each high-speed signal used.

Mitsubishi's 64-Mb DDR SDRAM product achieves clock speeds and data bandwidths as high as 133 megahertz (MHz) and 266 megabits per second (Mbps) per data pin, respectively, and is available in 16-megaword x 4-bit (16M x 4), 8M x 8, and 4M x 16 configurations. Mitsubishi's "-7.5" specification for the memory offers a first access time of 37 ns with a 133-MHz bus at CL 2.5. Mitsubishi's DDR SDRAM supports CL 1.5, CL 2 and CL 2.5 with burst lengths of 2, 4 and 8 for each data pin.

Packaging, availability and pricing

Mitsubishi's 64-Mb DDR SDRAM is available in a JEDEC-standard, 400-mil, 66-pin, thin small outline package, type II (TSOP II). The device will be available in a variety of dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) and will support up to a 128-megabyte standard DIMM.

Samples are now available with volume production expected during the fourth quarter of 1998, depending on market requirements.

About Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is one of the world's top 10 DRAM suppliers and aggressively develops advanced DRAMs, such as PC100, DDR SDRAM, Direct RDRAM(tm), SLDRAM and other emerging industry-standard DRAM types to support current and future customer requirements. Mitsubishi is the first company to successfully integrate the process technologies of DRAM and processor logic with its highly acclaimed eRAM(tm) technology, and has shipped more embedded DRAM products than all other suppliers combined. Mitsubishi markets its memory products in North America through the Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and its North American affiliate, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., are world-class suppliers of semiconductors and electronic products for computers, communications and visual applications. Mitsubishi combines its systems-level expertise and high-level silicon process technology to provide chip, chipset and system-on-chip solutions. The company is ranked among the top 10 worldwide semiconductor suppliers and offers an extensive range of semiconductor-based products in the North American marketplace, including microcontrollers and microprocessors, ASICs, memory ICs, optoelectronic products, microwave GaAs FETs, MPEG codecs and flat-panel displays. Please visit Mitsubishi Electric's worldwide semiconductor website at http://www.mitsubishichips.com.

Trademark Information

Note to Editors: eRAM is a trademark of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. Direct RDRAM is a trademark of Rambus Inc.

    CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc.
              John Garner, 408/774-3191
              [e-mail]
                 or
              KVO Public Relations
              Lori Higa, 650/919-2059
              [e-mail]