NEC, Atmos Join for Wee DRAM

LAS VEGAS -- Wireless and communications devices will soon get an injection of larger, denser and dramatically faster memory capabilities through the collaboration of two leaders in embedded memory. NEC Electronics Inc. of Santa Clara, and ATMOS Corporation of Kanata, Canada, today announced their collaboration to develop and offer high-performance embedded dynamic random access memory (embedded DRAM) targeted to the communications and wireless industries. NEC and ATMOS seek to advance the evolution of such devices through the joint development of two macrocells (complete designs for a particular chip function). One will be based on the combination of ATMOS SoC-RAM(TM) embedded DRAM architecture and NEC's 0.15 micronsm embedded DRAM process. With random access speeds reaching 400 MHz, this memory design is tailored to applications where speed and performance are prime considerations, such as digital signal processing (DSP) and packet processing applications. "The amount of memory available, and the speed with which it can be accessed are key to providing feature-rich products that perform diverse tasks," explained Hideya Horikawa, Design Engineering Manager of NEC Electronics Inc. "Embedded DRAM is highly suited to span the needs of high-end communications systems for business while also meeting the diverse requirements of consumer products. The ATMOS SoC-RAM(TM) embDRAM architecture and design methodology fits these technology and end-user strategies exceptionally well." NEC Electronics Inc. Atmos Corp.