Samsung has announced that it has started mass production of 4GB of 2nd generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2) DRAM aimed to be used for high performance computing (HPC), advanced graphics and network systems and enterprise servers.

Based on 20nm manufacturing process, the new 4GB HBM2-based DRAM is using advanced GBM chip design which, according to Samsung, "satisfies the need for high performance, energy efficiency, reliability and small dimensions making it well suited for next-generation HPC systems and video cards."

The start of mass production of the 4GB HBM2 DRAM follows Samsung's introduction of a 128GB 3D TSV DDR4 RDIMM in last October and marks the latest mileston in Through Silicon Via (TSV) DRAM technology.

The 4GB HBM2 package is made by stacking a buffer die at the bottom and four 8Gb core dies on top which are vertically interconnected via TSV holes and microbumps. A single 8Gb HBM2 die contains over 5,000 TSV holes which is more than 36 times that of a 8Gb TSV DDR4 die. It also features 256Gbps of bandwidth, which is double that of an HMB1 DRAM package.

The new 4GB HBM2 chip also brings improved power efficiency by doubling the bandwidth per watt compared to 4Gb GDDR5 memory and embeds ECC (error-correcting code) functionality.

Samsung also announced plans to produce an 8GB HBM2 DRAM package within this year which should bring important space saving of more than 95 percent in graphics cards, when compared to the GDDR5 DRAM.

Samsung plans to increase production volume of its HMB2 DRAM during this year sa well as to expand its line of HBM2 DRAM solutions.



Source: Samsung.com.