Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SDRAM history
Although the concept of synchronous DRAM has been known since at
least the 1970s and was used with early Intel processors, it was only in
1993 that SDRAM began its path to universal acceptance in the
electronics industry. In 1993, Samsung introduced its KM48SL2000
Eight SDRAM ICs on a PC100 DIMM package.
synchronous DRAM, and by 2000, SDRAM had replaced virtually all
other types of DRAM in modern computers, because of its greater
performance.
SDRAM latency is not inherently lower (faster) than asynchronous DRAM. Indeed, early SDRAM was somewhat
slower than contemporaneous burst EDO DRAM due to the additional logic. The benefits of SDRAM's internal
buffering come from its ability to interleave operations to multiple banks of memory, thereby increasing effective
bandwidth.
Today, virtually all SDRAM is manufactured in compliance with standards established by JEDEC, an electronics
industry association that adopts open standards to facilitate interoperability of electronic components. JEDEC
formally adopted its first SDRAM standard in 1993 and subsequently adopted other SDRAM standards, including
those for DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM.
SDRAM is also available in registered varieties, for systems that require greater scalability such as servers and
workstations.
As of 2007, 168-pin SDRAM DIMMs are not used in new PC systems, and 184-pin DDR memory has been mostly
superseded. DDR2 SDRAM is the most common type used with new PCs, and DDR3 motherboards and memory are
widely available, and less expensive than still-popular DDR2 products.
Today, the world's largest manufacturers of SDRAM include: Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, and Hynix.
Synchronous dynamic random access memory 2
SDRAM timing
There are several limits on DRAM performance. Most noted is the read cycle time, the time between successive read
operations to an open row. This time decreased from 10 ns for 100 MHz SDRAM to 5 ns for DDR-400, but has
remained relatively unchanged through DDR2-800 and DDR3-1600 generations. However, by operating the
interface circuitry at increasingly higher multiples of the fundamental read rate, the achievable bandwidth has
increased rapidly.
Another limit is the CAS latency, the time between supplying a column address and receiving the corresponding
data. Again, this has remained relatively constant at 10–15 ns through the last few generations of DDR SDRAM.
In operation, CAS latency is a specific number of clock cycles programmed into the SDRAM's mode register and
expected by the DRAM controller. Any value may be programmed, but the SDRAM will not operate correctly if it is
too low. At higher clock rates, the useful CAS latency in clock cycles naturally increases. 10–15 ns is 2–3 cycles
(CL2–3) of the 200 MHz clock of DDR-400 SDRAM, CL4-6 for DDR2-800, and CL8-12 for DDR3-1600. Slower
clock cycles will naturally allow lower numbers of CAS latency cycles.
SDRAM modules have their own timing specifications, which may be slower than those of the chips on the module.
When 100 MHz SDRAM chips first appeared, some manufacturers sold "100 MHz" modules that could not reliably
operate at that clock rate. In response, Intel published the PC100 standard, which outlines requirements and
guidelines for producing a memory module that can operate reliably at 100 MHz. This standard was widely
influential, and the term "PC100" quickly became a common identifier for 100 MHz SDRAM modules, and modules
are now commonly designated with "PC"-prefixed numbers (PC66, PC100 or PC133 - although the actual meaning
of the numbers has changed).
SDR SDRAM
Originally simply known as SDRAM, single data rate SDRAM can
accept one command and transfer one word of data per clock cycle.
Typical clock frequencies are 100 and 133 MHz. Chips are made with
a variety of data bus sizes (most commonly 4, 8 or 16 bits), but chips
are generally assembled into 168-pin DIMMs that read or write 64
(non-ECC) or 72 (ECC) bits at a time.
Use of the data bus is intricate and thus requires a complex DRAM
controller circuit. This is because data written to the DRAM must be
presented in the same cycle as the write command, but reads produce 64 MB sound memory of Sound Blaster X-Fi
output 2 or 3 cycles after the read command. The DRAM controller Fatal1ty Pro uses two Micron 48LC32M8A2-75
must ensure that the data bus is never required for a read and a write at C SDRAM chips working at 133 MHz (7.5 ns)
[1]
8-bit wide
the same time.
Typical SDR SDRAM clock rates are 66, 100, and 133 MHz (periods
of 15, 10, and 7.5 ns). Clock rates up to 150 MHz were available for performance enthusiasts.
Synchronous dynamic random access memory 3
L H H H x x x No operation
L H L H bank L column Read: Read a burst of data from the currently active row.
L H L H bank H column Read with auto precharge: As above, and precharge (close row) when done.
L H L L bank L column Write: Write a burst of data to the currently active row.
L H L L bank H column Write with auto precharge: As above, and precharge (close row) when done.
L L H H bank row Active (activate): open a row for Read and Write commands.
L L L H x x x Auto refresh: Refresh one row of each bank, using an internal counter. All banks must be
precharged.
L L L L 00 mode Load mode register: A0 through A9 are loaded to configure the DRAM chip.
The most significant settings are CAS latency (2 or 3 cycles) and burst length (1, 2, 4 or 8 cycles)
Synchronous dynamic random access memory 4
SDRAM operation
A 512 MB SDRAM DIMM might be made of 8 or 9 SDRAM chips, each containing 512 Mbit of storage, and each
one contributing 8 bits to the DIMM's 64- or 72-bit width. A typical 512 Mbit SDRAM chip internally contains 4
independent 16 Mbyte memory banks. Each bank is an array of 8,192 rows of 16,384 bits each. A bank is either idle,
active, or changing from one to the other.
The Active command activates an idle bank. It presents a 2-bit bank address (BA0–BA1) and a 13-bit row address
(A0–A12), and causes a read of that row into the bank's array of all 16,384 column sense amplifiers. This is also
known as "opening" the row. This operation has the side effect of refreshing the dynamic (capacitive) memory
storage cells of that row.
Once the row has been activated or "opened", Read and Write commands are possible to that row. Activation
requires a minimum amount of time, called the row-to-column delay, or tRCD before reads or writes to it may occur.
This time, rounded up to the next multiple of the clock period, specifies the minimum number of wait cycles between
an Active command, and a Read or Write command. During these wait cycles, additional commands may be sent to
other banks; because each bank operates completely independently.
Both Read and Write commands require a column address. Because each chip accesses 8 bits of data at a time, there
are 2048 possible column addresses thus requiring only 11 address lines (A0–A9, A11).
When a Read command is issued, the SDRAM will produce the corresponding output data on the DQ lines in time
for the rising edge of the clock 2 or 3 clock cycles later (depending on the configured CAS latency). Subsequent
words of the burst will be produced in time for subsequent rising clock edges.
A Write command is accompanied by the data to be written driven on to the DQ lines during the same rising clock
edge. It is the duty of the memory controller to ensure that the SDRAM is not driving read data on to the DQ lines at
the same time that it needs to drive write data on to those lines. This can be done by waiting until a read burst has
finished, by terminating a read burst, or by using the DQM control line.
When the memory controller needs to access a different row, it must first return that bank's sense amplifiers to an
idle state, ready to sense the next row. This is known as a "precharge" operation, or "closing" the row. A precharge
may be commanded explicitly, or it may be performed automatically at the conclusion of a read or write operation.
Again, there is a minimum time, the row precharge delay, tRP, which must elapse before that bank is fully idle and it
may receive another activate command.
Although refreshing a row is an automatic side effect of activating it, there is a minimum time for this to happen,
which requires a minimum row access time tRAS delay between an Active command opening a row, and the
corresponding precharge command closing it. This limit is usually dwarfed by desired read and write commands to
the row, so its value has little effect on typical performance.
Command interactions
The no operation command is always permitted.
The load mode register command requires that all banks be idle, and a delay afterward for the changes to take effect.
The auto refresh command also requires that all banks be idle, and takes a refresh cycle time tRFC to return the chip
to the idle state. (This time is usually equal to tRCD+tRP.)
The only other command that is permitted on an idle bank is the active command. This takes, as mentioned above,
tRCD before the row is fully open and can accept read and write commands.
When a bank is open, there are four commands permitted: read, write, burst terminate, and precharge. Read and write
commands begin bursts, which can be interrupted by following commands.
Synchronous dynamic random access memory 5
If the requested column address is at the start of a block, both burst modes return data in the same sequential
sequence 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7. The difference only matters if fetching a cache line from memory in critical-word-first
order.
Auto refresh
It is possible to refresh a RAM chip by opening and closing (activating and precharging) each row in each bank.
However, to simplify the memory controller, SDRAM chips support an "auto refresh" command, which performs
these operations to one row in each bank simultaneously. The SDRAM also maintains an internal counter, which
iterates over all possible rows. The memory controller must simply issue a sufficient number of auto refresh
commands (one per row, 4096 in the example we have been using) every refresh interval (tREF = 64 ms is a common
value). All banks must be idle (closed, precharged) when this command is issued.
Generations of SDRAM
DDR2 SDRAM
DDR2 SDRAM is very similar to DDR SDRAM, but doubles the minimum read or write unit again, to 4 consecutive
words. The bus protocol was also simplified to allow higher performance operation. (In particular, the "burst
terminate" command is deleted.) This allows the bus rate of the SDRAM to be doubled without increasing the clock
rate of internal RAM operations; instead, internal operations are performed in units 4 times as wide as SDRAM.
Also, an extra bank address pin (BA2) was added to allow 8 banks on large RAM chips.
Typical DDR2 SDRAM clock rates are 200, 266, 333 or 400 MHz (periods of 5, 3.75, 3 and 2.5 ns), generally
described as DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 (periods of 2.5, 1.875, 1.5 and 1.25 ns).
Corresponding 240-pin DIMMS are known as PC2-3200 through PC2-6400. DDR2 SDRAM is now available at a
clock rate of 533 MHz generally described as DDR2-1066 and the corresponding DIMMS are known as PC2-8500
(also named PC2-8600 depending on the manufacturer). Performance up to DDR2-1250 (PC2-10000) is available for
a price.
Note that because internal operations are at 1/2 the clock rate, DDR2-400 memory (internal clock rate 100 MHz) has
somewhat higher latency than DDR-400 (internal clock rate 200 MHz).
DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 continues the trend, doubling the minimum read or write unit to 8 consecutive words. This allows another
doubling of bandwidth and external bus rate without having to change the clock rate of internal operations, just the
width. To maintain 800 M transfers/s (both edges of a 400 MHz clock), the internal RAM array has to perform
100 M fetches per second.
Again, with every doubling, the downside is the increased latency. As with all DDR SDRAM generations,
commands are still restricted to one clock edge and command latencies are given in terms of clock cycles, which are
half the speed of the usually quoted transfer rate (a CAS latency of 8 with DDR3-800 is 8/(400 MHz) = 20 ns,
exactly the same latency of CAS2 on PC100 SDR SDRAM).
Synchronous dynamic random access memory 8
DDR3 memory chips are being made commercially,[3] and computer systems are available that use them as of the
second half of 2007,[4] with expected significant usage in 2008.[5] Initial clock rates were 400 and 533 MHz, which
are described as DDR3-800 and DDR3-1066 (PC3-6400 and PC3-8500 modules), but 667 and 800 MHz, described
as DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600 (PC3-10600 and PC3-12800 modules) are now common.[6] Performance up to
DDR3-2200 is available for a price.[7]
Feature map
Failed successors
In addition to DDR, there were several other proposed memory technologies to succeed DDR SDRAM.
of 400 MHz.
See also
• SDRAM latency
• List of device bandwidths
References
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[4] Thomas Soderstrom (June 5, 2007). "Pipe Dreams: Six P35-DDR3 Motherboards Compared" (http:/ / www. tomshardware. com/ 2007/ 06/
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[12] "IDF: DDR4 memory targeted for 2012" (http:/ / www. hardware-infos. com/ news. php?news=2332) (in German). hardware-infos.com. .
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[13] Gruener, Wolfgang (February 4, 2009). "Samsung hints to DDR4 with first validated 40 nm DRAM" (http:/ / www. tgdaily. com/ content/
view/ 41316/ 139/ ). tgdaily.com. . Retrieved 2009-06-16.
[14] Jansen, Ng (January 20, 2009). "DDR3 Will be Cheaper, Faster in 2009" (http:/ / www. dailytech. com/ DDR3+ Will+ be+ Cheaper+
Faster+ in+ 2009/ article13977. htm). dailytech.com. . Retrieved 2009-06-17.
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Article Sources and Contributors 10
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