Samsung Begins First 60nm DRAM Mass Production

Lenovo Announces Battery Recall

Samsung Begins First 60nm DRAM Mass Production

Samsung Electronics announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first 1-gigabit DDR2 DRAM 60nm–class process technology.

Use of the new process technology increases production efficiency by 40 percent over the 80nm process technology deployed in DRAM fabrication since early 2006, and offers twice the productivity of 90nm general process technology.

Ample market availability of 1Gb DRAM will further increase the demand for large density DRAMs, especially as the new premium Vista operating system imposes a DRAM requirement of at least 1GB. Samsung’s extensive line up of 60nm 1Gb DRAM-based modules includes 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB densities supporting either 667Mbps or 800Mbps speeds with customer validation.

Samsung’s continuous technology migration below 90nm has relied heavily on the company’s extensive use of three-dimensional (3D) transistor technologies to build increasingly smaller chips, a fundamentally unique approach toward finer circuit designs and higher yields. One of the key technologies involved in the development of Samsung’s 3D transistor is a recess channel array transistor (RCAT) that actually builds the DRAM cell three-dimensionally to minimize its size while increasing its density.

Samsung’s proprietary RCAT technology was first introduced at the 2003 VLSI symposium. This new 3D transistor technology doubles the refresh cycle, which is critical for enabling efficient fabrication on a nanometer-scale. Samsung has been utilizing RCAT for DRAM fabrication from 90nm. This key 3D technology is expected to enable DRAM fabrication to 50nm and lower.

In addition to its 60nm process technology innovation, Samsung’s use of metal-insulator metal (MIM) for its capacitors provides enhanced data storage in sub-70nm designs.

Furthermore, the use of a recently-announced selective epitaxial growth (SEG) technology provides for a broader electron channel, and optimizes the speed of each chip’s electrons to reduce power consumption and enable higher performance.

The 60nm process is expected to become the mainstream circuit technology for DRAM in 2008. In the first year of market availability alone, 60nm DRAM revenues are expected to reach US $2.3billion worldwide and further increase to US $32 billion by 2009.

Source: Samsung Electronics

Lenovo Announces Battery Recall

Lenovo, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, yesterday announced the voluntary recall of approximately 205,000 extended-life, 9-cell battery packs. In the interests of public safety, Lenovo will offer customers free-of-charge replacements for all recalled battery packs.

Lenovo has confirmed that notebook computers containing the recalled battery packs may overheat, posing a potential safety hazard to users if the battery pack experiences a strong external impact. Lenovo advises customers to determine if they are using one of the recalled battery packs.

Lenovo sold the battery packs with new notebook computers or as optional or replacement battery packs on the models listed below.

• R60 and R60e Series
• T60 and T60p Series
• Z60m, Z61e, Z61m, and Z61p Series

These models may have shipped with either regular or extended-life, 9-cell battery packs; only some of the larger, extended-life, 9-cell battery packs with the part number FRU P/N 92P1131 are being recalled.

Consumers who have battery packs affected by this recall and who intend to transport their ThinkPad or use it in a manner that may subject it to a strong external impact, should continue to use their computer by turning off the system, removing the battery, and only power the ThinkPad by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord. Customers should use only genuine ThinkPad battery packs obtained from either Lenovo or an authorized reseller.

Customers should contact Lenovo to determine if the battery pack used in their notebook PC is subject to this recall. Please visit www.lenovo.com/batteryprogram or call the Service Center at 1-800-426-7378. International support numbers are available at www.lenovo.com/thinkpad/wwphonelist.

Source: Lenovo

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