Introduction to DRAM

Introduction to DRAM

Semiconductors are one of the key components used in almost every electronic device and equipment. Without semiconductor, our phone, laptop, kitchen appliances, security systems are useless. Semiconductors are mostly made up of silicon material hence they are also known as silicon chips or silicon chip wafer. Semiconductor memory is a vital electronics component needed for any computer-based PCB assembly. Memory cards such as potable flash memory card is used for storing data and information, sharing files etc. While semiconductor memory is used in electronic gadgets such as cameras, phones, and computers/laptops. With the need to store huge amount of data, and the growing advancements in the world, the demand for semiconductor memory is at its peak. Today, different semiconductor memory types are available in the market and they are used with the device they are compatible or suited with. Various kinds of semiconductors memory are ROM, RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, as well as F-RAM and MRAM. With the growing demand for semiconductor memories the demand for newer and better types of memory is increasing. Here in this article, we will discuss about one of the most popular kinds of semiconductor memory that is DRAM.

DRAM stands for Dynamic random access memory, is one of the types of RAM. DRAM is widely used in digital electronics where low-cost and high-capacity memory is required. Dr. Robert Dennard, an IBM fellow is credited for the invention of DRAM back in 1966. It is widely used for the purpose of storing data or program needed by the computer processor to perform the function. DRAM consists of two main components that is a transistor and capacitor. The capacitor is used to hold the bits of data. The transistor is used to pass the electric current. The level of charge on each capacitor determines the information is logical 0 or 1. A DRAM storage cell is dynamic, meaning that it needs to be refreshed or given a new electronic charge every few milliseconds to compensate for charge leaks from the capacitor. The memory cells will work with other circuits that can be used to identify rows and columns, track the refresh process, instruct a cell whether or not to accept a charge and read or restore data from a cell. DRAM is widely used in personal computers. By mid-1970’s the popularity of DRAM reached to the extreme sides of the world. Asian and European countries were fascinated with the working of DRAM. Japan dominated the DRAM market in 1980’s and early 1990’s but after that Korea and USA took the lead, reducing the Japan’s market share significantly.

 There are also types of DRAM such as Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), Extended data out DRAM(EDORAM), Fast page mode DRAM (FPM DRAM) and others. Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron are some of the major semiconductor manufacturing equipment companies manufacturing DRAM. The global DRAM market generates over 15 billion U.S. dollars each quarter. Global DRAM revenue amounted to 17.46 billion U.S. dollars for the third quarter of 2020 showing a steady rise from the second quarter revenue of 17.11 billion U.S. dollars. There are also various alternatives available in the market for DRAM such as MRAM. There are various advantages and disadvantages of using DRAM. The main advantages are low cost per bit, simple memory structure while major disadvantages are, complex manufacturing process, volatile memory, need to refresh data again and again, and relatively slow speed as compared to other types of semiconductor memory.

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