Embedded DRAM makes inroads into SOC devices

This month, SST presents a special preview of the January edition of Chip Forensics, an SST online column by Dick James, senior technology adviser at Chipworks, a specialty reverse engineering company that takes apart ICs and electronics systems in order to provide engineering information for its customers. In this column, James examines the graphics chips in game systems that have started using embedded DRAM, specifically, the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) and the Microsoft X-box 360. He chose these two chips, both 90nm technology devices, because they reflect the process split in commodity DRAM, with some products using capacitor., formed by trenches in the substrate ("trench" DRAM) and others building the capacitors above the substrate surface ("stack" DRAM).