Today's Consumers Expect the Most from Their Portable and Handheld Devices, be it Smartphones,
PDAs, or Tablet Computers.
With advances in technology, such devices are constantly evolving and are adding newer features to their ever-expanding list of capabilities, such as high-definition video playback and wireless Internet access.
Storing content on such devices requires a substantial amount of memory. The latest developments in memory technology have now made it possible to introduce advanced features on these devices. One such widely used technology in the memory space is MCP (Multi-Chip Package).
Embedded devices use a combination of memory technologies, such as NAND flash, NOR flash, mobile DRAM (such as LPDDR2), mobile SDRAM. Instead of using these memories separately as individual, interconnected chips within the device, MCP introduces the concept of unifying all the required memory onto a single substrate (On external, it can be viewed as a one single package, but at the system level, it is all different memories.). Within the substrate, the memory devices can be connected using a variety of techniques, such as die-to-die bonding and die-to-frame bonding. This technique significantly improves the performance of the device's memory subsection and reduces the board space used due to the integration of multiple chips onto a single substrate.
Samsung has a vast portfolio of MCP products for a variety of solutions, such as mobile phones, PMPs, and tablet computers. The following illustration shows Samsung's lineup of MCP memory solutions, which can be deployed in almost any application.
Samsung MCP products' suite with different values and types of RAM and ROM
As the above graph shows, Samsung has various combinations of MCPs with different capacities of volatile (RAM) and nonvolatile (ROM) memory available. The lowest-end MCPs start at 32Mb of RAM and 64Mb of ROM, while the highest-end offers up to 8Gb of RAM and 64Gb of ROM. The latest generation MCP modules contain a combination of the fastest eMCP, along with either LPDDR1 or LPDDR2 memory.
The latest technology in MCPs is known as the "chip-stack" design, in which, similar chips, such as memory chips, are stacked vertically on a carefully selected and designed substrate. This layout reduces the net area occupied by the end device (the MCP) by a significant amount and is targeted primarily towards applications where board space is extremely limited, such as compact, handheld multimedia players and mobile handsets.
With advancements in the chip-stack design, Samsung announced a 16-chip MCP in November 2006. The following illustration shows the progress that the chip-stack technique has achieved, along with projections for future trends of this design.
The graph shows that memory capacities for MCP chips using the chip-stack technique have been steadily increasing, resulting in newer technologies evolving in the memory space, such as eMCP and PoP (Package-On-Package).
Key Features
The key features of Samsung's MCP memory solutions include:
| Availability |
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Samsung's 2-chip, 3-chip, 4-chip, and 5-chip MCPs are already in mass production and considered by customers to be the best in the industry.
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| Constantly evolving technology |
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Samsung is constantly pushing the limits of performance for its MCP products, with the latest technologies introduced for the 16-chip stack package, such as 30-µm Wafer Thinning, Laser Sawing, and Redistributed Layer Technology (RLT).
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| Wide-deployment base |
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Samsung's MCP solutions are the number one choice for designers of high-density memory solutions for devices such as smartphones, multimedia players, and digital video cameras.
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Benefits
The key benefits of using Samsung's MCP memory solutions include:
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Higher performance for memory
Because the memory modules in an MCP are closely positioned and tightly coupled by the shortest interconnections possible, it results in a significant performance boost for the memory and the overall system. -
Smaller board space:
Stacking several memory modules in a vertical configuration results in a significant reduction in the board space usage in your end product. For compact applications such as mobile phones, this is an important advantage. -
Lower costs
MCPs obtained from a single vendor can be quickly integrated into the overall system design. This translates into a reduction in the time and resources otherwise needed to bridge together and interface multiple memory devices with different timing parameters, resulting in lowering the overall development cost of your end product. -
Faster time-to-market
Faster integration of MCP memory modules into the system means your product ships faster.
Applications
The key application areas for Samsung MCP memory include:
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Mobile devices
The latest mobile handsets are equipped with advanced multimedia features, and MCP memory greatly increases storage capacities on these devices. MCP's small physical footprint gives it a compelling reason for consideration in your next mobile device design. - MCP has not been used for the GPU or general purpose computer processors, It is mainly used for mobile processors commonly associated with smartphones, PDA, Camera, Tablet PC etc
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High-end consumer electronic devices
A wide range of portable and advanced consumer electronic devices, such as digital cameras, PMPs, PDAs, and VOIP phones can use MCP memory and benefit from several of its advantages, such as smaller size, less power consumption, and higher memory density.
Being the dominant, worldwide industry leader in the memory segment, Samsung has the required expertise to help deliver the correct solutions to its customers in the shortest amount of time. As in other memory segments, Samsung continues to innovate and deliver the most efficient solutions to meet the broadest demands of the industry.
