Kioxia Corporation is a world leader in memory solutions. The company recently announced a key technology development. They developed highly stackable oxide-semiconductor channel transistors. These will allow for the practical implementation of high-density, low-power 3D DRAM. The technology was presented at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). This meeting was held in San Francisco, USA, on December 10. This innovation holds the potential to significantly reduce power consumption. This will apply across a wide range of applications effectively. These include AI servers and common IoT components.
The AI era has created huge demands for DRAM products. There is a need for larger capacity and much lower power usage. This is necessary to process huge amounts of data quickly. Traditional DRAM technology is reaching physical limits. The scaling of memory cell size is becoming harder. This has prompted significant research into 3D stacking of memory cells. This crucial technique provides additional capacity for storage. However, conventional DRAM uses single-crystal silicon. This drives up manufacturing costs substantially. The power needed to refresh memory cells also increases proportionally.
Innovation in Vertical Transistors
Kioxia previously announced the Oxide-Semiconductor Channel Transistor DRAM. This technology is called OCTRAM for short. This solution uses vertical transistors made from oxide-semiconductors. In this year’s presentation, Kioxia successfully showcased new technology. It enables highly stackable oxide-semiconductor channel transistors. This directly allows for 3D stacking of OCTRAM cells effectively. Kioxia verified the successful operation of transistors. These were stacked in a total of eight layers.
The new technology stacks films maturely. It uses silicon-oxide and silicon-nitride materials efficiently. Next, it replaces the silicon-nitride region with an oxide-semiconductor. The material used here is InGaZnO. This process simultaneously forms vertical layers of transistors. Kioxia has also introduced a novel 3D memory cell structure. This structure is capable of scaling the vertical pitch quickly. These new manufacturing processes will overcome cost challenges. They will make achieving 3D stacking of memory cells practical.
The use of oxide-semiconductors reduces refresh power greatly. This is due to their very low off-current characteristics. Kioxia demonstrated high on-current capabilities. They also showed ultra-low off-current capabilities successfully. Kioxia Corporation will continue research and development efforts. The ultimate goal is to realize the large-scale deployment of 3D DRAM technology.
Explore IT Tech News for the latest advancements in Information Technology & insightful updates from industry experts!
News Source: Businesswire.com
