
Startup Neo says its 3D DRAM offers 8x 2D capacity
Neo Semiconductor Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) – a 2012 startup company – says it has developed a 3D technology that can increase DRAM capacity by a factor of eight.
The move to the third dimension has had a transformative effect on the NAND flash memory sector and Neo Semiconductor expects the same to happen in DRAM. The company claims its ‘3D X-DRAM’ technology is “NAND-like” and is intended to replace the entire 2D DRAM market. Relevant patent applications were published with the United States Patent Application Publication on April 6, 2023.
The company did not discuss its business model in the announcement, but as a small startup it would likely be seeking to a licensing plus royalties deal, if it can establish the benefits of its approach.
The 3D X-DRAM technology is based on a capacitor-less floating body memory cell and can be manufactured using a process that is similar to that for 3D-NAND. A single mask is used to define the vertical bit line holes and form the memory cell structure inside the holes. The company reckons 3D X-DRAM technology can achieve 128Gbit monolithic memory capacity using 230 word-line layers, which is eight times today’s DRAM monolithic capacity.
“3D X-DRAM will be the absolute future growth driver for the semiconductor industry,” said Andy Hsu, founder and CEO of Neo Semiconductor. Neo was founded in 2012 by Hsu and claims to have many US patents on memory architectures and memory cell structures.
In 2018 the company announced a 3D NAND architecture called X-NAND. The company claims that X-NAND can achieve single-level cell speed with triple and quadruple level cell densities. In 2022 the company launched a second-generation of X-NAND (see Second-gen X-NAND flash memory architecture launched).
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