Samsung Announces Industry's Most Advanced 0.13um Embedded DRAM Capability.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Embedded Systems Conference 2002

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2002

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

-- Samsung announces next-generation Merged DRAM with Logic (MDL) product

-- The new MDL150 incorporates only three additional mask layers for high
manufacturability

-- Samsung customers enjoy improved price-performance advantage

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.'s Cubic Solutions Division today announced its new generation Merged DRAM with Logic (MDL) product for "system-on-a-chip" (SOC) and ASIC designs. The new MDL150 is based on Samsung's leading-edge 0.13um CMOS logic process.

Samsung's MDL150 incorporates advanced process technology requiring only three additional mask layers in manufacturing. It is designed to lower the cost of ownership by significantly improving wafer yield compared to other available embedded memory technologies.

"As the world leader in memory, Samsung has the experience and know-how to make embedded memory work," said Benson Cheung, director of business development with the Cubic Solutions Division of Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "Samsung wrote the book on this technology, and to date, we have shipped tens of millions of embedded memory devices to customers."

To reduce DRAM core size, the bit cell size in the MDL150 is optimized to be one of the smallest in its class. The MDL150 embedded DRAM core operates at a low 1.2V, enabling a power savings of one-third compared to external memory. The memory core processes data at up to 200MHz. To support applications that require high memory bandwidth, bus width of up to 1024 bits is available.

By using embedded rather than external memory, Samsung customers can maximize memory throughput to achieve higher system performance, introduce innovative architectures with customized memory sizes, and reduce power consumption in their systems. They will also benefit from less expensive packaging, by removing the extra pins that drive external memory and by eliminating board space otherwise required by external memory chips. Both of these benefits can lower production costs. In addition, using embedded memory ensures Samsung customers of a guaranteed supply of this type of memory, without the volatility of the external memory market.

Samsung's MDL150 product is fully compatible with its 0.13um logic process. This "modular approach" enables designers to use Samsung logic libraries in designs that utilize Samsung's embedded memory cores, without any degradation in logic performance. The MDL150 product is targeted for designs in networking, wireless, PDA, digital-TV, set top box, network storage and graphics display applications.

Samsung's 0.13um Logic Process

Samsung's 0.13um logic process has been fully qualified and is in production stage. It offers a copper interconnect option to further enhance system performance. Compared to 0.18um technology, Samsung's 0.13um process reduces die size by more than 50 percent, doubles operating frequency and decreases power consumption by one-third.

Samsung has developed three different 0.13um logic libraries to meet various types of SOC design requirements. These include a "generic" library suitable for most SOC applications, a "high-speed" library for high-performance designs such as CPU and network devices, and a "low power" library for mobile applications such as mobile handsets and PDAs.

Availability

The MDL150 embedded memory cores will be available in the third quarter of 2002. Other MDL products based on 0.18um to 0.35um process technologies are available now.

Samsung also provides embedded SRAM (MSL) and embedded Flash memory (MFL) in 0.13-micron process technology. All products are fully verified in Samsung's state-of-the-art test environment.

For more information about the Samsung MDL150 and other Samsung products, please visit Samsung's booth (number 4968N) at the Embedded Systems Conference, March 12-16, 2002, Moscone Center, San Francisco.

About Cubic Solutions

Cubic Solutions is Samsung Semiconductor's System LSI business unit focused on developing solutions in networking, wireless, PDA, digital-TV, set top box, storage and display applications for the U.S. market. Focused on U.S. customers' needs, Cubic Solutions has full access to Samsung's wide array of technical resources. Cubic Solutions provides its customers with a comprehensive library of cores for its target applications, system development know-how and fabrication process expertise.

About Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. is a wholly owned US subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Headquartered in Seoul, Korea, Samsung Electronics is a mainstay of the global electronics industry. It is the world's leader in DRAM memory, SRAM memory, and TFT-LCD display products for industrial, mobile and desktop computing applications. Samsung Electronics is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies overall with a full line of semiconductor products including Flash memory, microprocessor and custom ASIC components. Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. is located in San Jose, Calif. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.usa.samsungsemi.com/.