Ultra-fast power-on can significantly reduce memory subsystem
power in mobile and compute applications
KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), one of the world's premier technology
licensing companies, today announced the development of a fast power-on,
low-power clocking technology that can enable a whole new class of
memory devices. Implemented in a 40nm low-power CMOS process, this
technology is capable of transitioning from a zero-power idle state to a
5+ Gb/s data transfer rate in 5 nanoseconds (ns) while achieving active
power of only 2.4mW/Gb/s.
In order to improve the energy efficiency of servers and mobile systems,
system designers are continually looking for ways to reduce the energy
required by the memory subsystem. Memories typically used in today's
server applications are challenged to cycle in and out of the lowest
power operating state rapidly. In mobile systems, which support a wide
range of power modes, low power operation is usually accomplished
through use of complex power state circuits. With this approach,
developed by Rambus Labs, a feed-forward architecture is used to achieve
extremely fast turn-on and turn-off, simplifying the system design and
significantly reducing the overall system power requirements.
"Through this work, we've dramatically reduced system complexity and
have saved substantial power while increasing performance to more than
5Gb/s per differential link," said Jared Zerbe, technical director at
Rambus. "When incorporated into an SoC-to-memory interface, or
SoC-to-SoC link, this development can significantly reduce the memory
system power and time-to-first access, driving us closer to the vision
of energy proportional computing."
Mr. Zerbe unveiled the results of this development today at the VLSI
Circuit Symposium 2011 in Kyoto Japan. For more information on the VLSI
Symposium 2011, please visit http://www.vlsisymposium.org/.
About Rambus Inc.
Founded in 1990, Rambus is one of the world's premier technology
licensing companies. As a company of inventors, Rambus focuses on the
development of technologies that enrich the end-user experience of
electronic systems. Its breakthrough innovations and solutions help
industry-leading companies bring superior products to market. Rambus
licenses both its world-class patent portfolio, as well as its family of
leadership and industry-standard solutions. Rambus has offices in
California, North Carolina, Ohio, India, Germany, Japan, Korea, and
Taiwan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.
RMBSTN
Rambus
Inc.
Linda Ashmore, 408-462-8411
lashmore@rambus.com
or
The
Hoffman Agency for Rambus
Kari Ramirez, 408-975-3038
kramirez@hoffman.com
Source: Rambus Inc.
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