I.B.M. Reports a Speed Record for a Type of Computer Memory...major speed ...

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13 — I.B.M. researchers say they have set a speed record for a type of computer memory that promises a fundamental performance increase in a coming generation of microprocessors with multiple computing engines.

The announcement, to be made at a conference here Wednesday, sets up a potential confrontation between I.B.M. and Intel over the design of microprocessors that will begin to be available commercially next year. While I.B.M. now appears to be planning to integrate ultrafast memory directly into its processors, Intel has been hinting that it will instead stack memory chips on top of its processors to achieve similar performance.

Both companies are struggling with the challenge of quickly moving vast amounts of data inside processors that increasingly have multiple processing engines, or cores, to achieve faster performance.

The I.B.M. achievement will be described in a paper presented on the third day of the International Solid State Circuits Conference, a gathering used by chip and computer companies to highlight technology advances. On Monday, Intel demonstrated a Teraflop chip that integrated 80 separate processing engines.

The I.B.M. researchers said they had been able to reduce memory cycle times to less than 2 nanoseconds, roughly 10 times the performance of off-the-shelf dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, used in PCs.

The I.B.M. memory, called embedded dynamic random access memory, or eDRAM, can be used as a sort of simple scratchpad or temporary storage unit that speeds operations by keeping data inside a microprocessor for reuse while it is being processed. Cache memories like these vastly hasten computation by reducing processor waiting time to perform new calculations.

“This is huge,” said David Lammers, director of Wesrch.com, a portal for technical professionals, who was briefed by I.B.M. in advance of the paper’s presentation.

From wesrch.com:

IBM UNVEILS WORLD’S FASTEST ON-CHIP DYNAMIC MEMORY Technology

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Upload Date


14th-Feb-2007
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Company Name
IBM
Research Information
San Francisco, CA. February 14, 2007 – In papers presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) today, IBM revealed a first-of-its-kind, on-chip memory Technology that features the fastest access times ever recorded in eDRAM (embedded dynamic random access memory). This new Technology, designed using IBM’s Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) for high-performance at low power, vastly improves microprocessor Performance in multi-core designs and for the movement of graphics in gaming, networking, and other image intensive, multi-media applications. The Technology is expected to be a key feature of IBM’s 45nm (nanometer) microprocessor roadmap and will become available in IBM’s systems and OEM Technology beginning in 2008. IBM’s new eDRAM Technology, designed in stress-enabled 65nm SOI using deep trench, dramatically improves on-processor memory Performance in about one-third the space with one-fifth the standby power of conventional SRAM (static random access memory). “With this breakthrough solution to the processor/memory gap, IBM is effectively doubling microprocessor Performance beyond what classical scaling alone can achieve,” said Dr. Subramanian Iyer, Distinguished Engineer and director of 45 nm Technology development at IBM. “As semiconductor components have reached the atomic scale, design innovation at the chip-level has replaced materials science as a key factor in continuing Moore’s Law. Today’s announcement further demonstrates IBM’s leadership in this critical area of microprocessor design innovation.” IBM innovations in microelectronics and the company's groundbreaking system-on-a- Chip designs have transformed the world of semiconductors. IBM breakthroughs include dual-core and multi-core microprocessors, copper on-chip wiring, silicon-on-insulator and silicon germanium transistors, strained silicon, and eFUSE, a Technology that enables computer chips to automatically respond to changing conditions. The White House has awarded IBM the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest technical honor, for 40 years of innovation in semiconductors. IBM chips are the heart of the company's server and storage systems, the world's fastest supercomputers, and many of the best-known and widely used consumer electronics brands. eDRAM Specifications Among the specifications of IBM’s high-performance eDRAM technology: cell size: 0.126 mm2 Power supply: 1 V availability: 98.7% Tile: 1K RowX16 Col X146 (2Mb) AC power: 76 mW standby keep alive Power: 42 mW Random cycle time: 2ns Latency: 1.5ns About IBM For more information about leadership semiconductor technologies at IBM, please visit www.ibm.com/chips.
Release Date
14th-Feb-2007

Truley it is getting a bit warpy. Heh heh. Technologies march on. Who knows what the actual limits in channel width for MOS and similiar devices will turn out to be from the quantum mechanic models.
And of course the width of the metal and polysilicon runners within the chip's layers that do all the logic interconnects, etc., can only get so small.
Like I mentioned some time last year, back in the early ninetees when an associate lab I was working in at Bell Labs doing fine line processing, one of the physisist I knew showed my why they worried that they soon would approach maximum threshold limit as the transistors approached the lower sub micron channel width, e.g. 1/5 micron.
Then all changed. New processes, better x-ray beam generators and associated methods in making the masks used in the photoresist process etc., where developed along with the actual improvements in making even higher quality silicon ingets, came to be. Result. Everyone start making sub micron parts.
Things just keep marching forward.

My first PC magnetic permanent storage was a tape cassette. That was not fast but then my programs were not huge. There was no data to speak of. The CPU in this article is so far beyond the Z80, which was pretty speedy, that the PC would be in the workstation category. I don't know if workstations are at all popular anymore, but the old workstations we had would be left at the gate by any off the shelf PC now. I am still waiting for the UN to put all of history into their database, but they have a significant bottleneck in that person who keeps insisting that they have no history at all but historical fallacies. We probably would not need more than a dozen general purpose digital computers in the world even now if we took a serious look at what we are trying to do.

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