Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today debuted new DRAM memory chips that promise to provide significantly higher performance than the company’s previous-generation silicon.

Dynamic random-access memory is a common type of memory that is widely used in both consumer devices and data center hardware. There are several versions of the technology on the market. Samsung’s new memory chips are based on GDDR6 DRAM, a version of DRAM designed to be used in graphics processing units.

GPUs include a large amount of onboard memory to store the data they process. According to Samsung, its GDDR6 DRAM chips can be used to power high-end consumer GPUs, as well as data center graphics cards optimized for artificial intelligence and supercomputing use cases.

The rate at which data moves between a GPU’s computing circuits and its onboard DRAM memory directly influences processing speeds. The quicker data reaches the computing circuits, the faster calculations can be completed. Samsung’s GDDR6 DRAM chips are capable of moving data to and from the graphics card to which they’re attached at a rate of 24 gigabits per second, 30% faster than the company’s previous-generation chips.

The speed improvement is the result of several factors.

Samsung says the chips are produced using a 10-nanometer manufacturing process that makes use of EUV, or extreme ultraviolet lithography, machines. EUV is a cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technology that etches transistors into a silicon wafer with beams of light. Samsung uses the same technology to produce its most advanced commercially available processors.

The company’s new DRAM chips also incorporate another technology known as High-K Metal Gate. Like EUV, High-K Metal Gate is used both in memory and processor manufacturing. 

A DRAM chip consists of numerous modules known as memory cells that store data in the form of electricity. This electricity leaves the memory cells almost immediately after it’s added. As a result, the chip must constantly restore its memory cells to their original charge level in a process known as a memory refresh that is repeated thousands of times per second or more.

Samsung’s High-K Metal Gate technology streamlines the process. It’s an insulating material that can be added to a DRAM chip to reduce the speed at which electricity leaves its memory cells. Samsung says that High-K Metal Gate is more efficient than silicon oxide, the material historically used for the task. 

Samsung has begun sampling the speedy 24Gbps version of its new DRAM chips to early customers. In the future, the company plans to introduce 20Gbps and 16Gbps versions with a so-called dynamic voltage switching feature. Samsung said the feature will enable the chips to provide approximately 20% better power efficiency.

Image: Samsung