Samsung 12Gb D1z LPDDR5 with EUV Lithography Applied

After months of waiting, we have seen Samsung Electronics’ applied Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology for D1z DRAM in mass production. This is an instrumental change to their DRAM memory technology, which is found in their newest phone models, including Samsung Galaxy S21 5G series; S21 5G, S21+ 5G, and S21 Ultra 5G, just released in January 2021. EUV lithography has shown fabrication benefits in scaling and expediting production, as well as performance yields.

We found both D1z 12 Gb and D1z 16Gb LPDDR5 chips in the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G series; S21 5G, S21+ 5G, and S21 Ultra 5G just released in January 2021. The 12 Gb LPDDR5 chips are being used for Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G SM-G998B/DS 12GB RAM, while 16 Gb LPDDR5 chips are used in the S21 5G and S21+ 5G 8 GB random access memory components.

The Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography process used in Samsung’s D1z 12 Gb LPDDR5 DRAM generation has demonstrated 15% higher fabrication productivity compared to the previous D1y 12 Gb version. D/R (Design Rule) is decreased to 15.7 nm (D1z) from 17.1 nm (D1y). The 12 Gb die size is also reduced to 43.98 mm² (D1z) from 53.53 mm² (D1y), which results in a smaller die size that is about 18% scaled down from the previous version.

DRAM Specification Comparison of Samsung D1y and D1z LPDDR5 Chips with 8 Gb, 12 Gb and 16 Gb

Samsung used their most advanced D1z technology together with EUV lithography on 12 Gb die with K4L2E165YC die markings, while D1z 16 Gb LPDDR5 DRAM chips with K4L6E165YB die markings show non-EUV lithography die. The D1z LPDDR5 products were initially developed with ArF-I (argon fluoride laser (ArF) immersion) and EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography. Now, they produce all D1z LPDDR5 products with EUV SNLP (Storage Node Landing Pad) and BLP (Bit Line Pad) lithography. They applied HVM (High Volume Manufacturing) product in the DRAM industry and worldwide market, although Samsung released 1M sample modules with D1x EUV lithography applied in late 2019.

Competitive DRAM Specification Comparison of Micron D1z LPDDR4 vs. Samsung D1z LPDDR5 Chips

Competitive metrics that manufactures are pursuing, are higher bit density, smaller die size, advanced tech node. By using D1z tech node with EUV, Samsung has achieved leading metrics when compared with industry peer Micron demonstrated in this table:

A comparison of D1z DRAM products; Micron vs. Samsung

*Compared to Micron D1z cell design, Samsung further reduced cell size (Samsung 0.00197 µm² vs. Micron 0.00204 µm²) and D/R (Samsung 15.7 nm vs. Micron 15.9 nm).

Tags:  Samsung    memory    reverse engineering