The key features driving future memories are memory density, speed, lower operating voltage, and faster access. DDR5 supports memory density from 8Gb to 64Gb combined with a wide range of data rate from 3200 MT/s to 6400 MT/s. The operating voltage of DDR5 is further reduced from 1.2V of DDR4 to 1.1V.
Synopsys recently announced the fastest, and most power efficient DDR5 and LPDDR5 IP solutions. Industry’s first LPDDR5 controller, PHY, and verification IP solution supports data rates up to 6400 Mbps with up to 40% less area than previous generations. The LPDDR5 IP provides significant area and power savings for mobile and automotive SoCs with its dual-channel memory interface option that shares common circuitry between independent channels. The DesignWare DDR5 IP, operating at up to 4800 Mbps data rates, can interface with multiple DIMMs per channel up to 80 bits wide, delivering the fastest DDR memory interface solution for artificial intelligence (AI) and data center system-on-chips (SoCs). The DDR5 and LPDDR5 controller and PHY seamlessly interoperate via the latest DFI 5.0 interface.
Posted in Automotive, Data Center, DDR, Debug, DesignWare, DFI, HBM, LPDDR, Memory, Mobile SoC
We recently published the VIP Newsletter for Q3 2018, containing trending topics, leading solutions, in depth technical articles, videos, webinars, and updates on next generation protocols. The newsletter covers content on DFI 5.0 for DDR5/LPDDR5, NVMe 1.3, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0, next generation gaming displays, MIPI CSI-2 v2.1 for Automotive and IoT, and Verdi performance analyzer and protocol debug. In case you missed the latest buzz on Verification IP, you can read it here.
Posted in Automotive, Camera, CSI, Data Center, DDR, Debug, DFI, Display, DisplayPort, DSC, events, Flash, HDMI, LPDDR, Memory, MIPI, Mobile SoC, NVMe, PCIe, Storage, Test Suites, ToggleNAND, USB
The growth of datacenter, storage, automotive and other emerging market applications is driving the development of next-generation memory technologies – DDR5, LPDDR5. Like their predecessors, the latest memory technologies also use DFI, a standard interface between memory controller and PHY, to reduce the integration cost and increase performance and data throughput efficiency. DFI also has evolved along with the memory technologies, and next generation DFI 5.0 is here to ensure higher performance in the systems using DDR5/LPDDR5. In this blog, we will discuss the new features of DFI 5.0 specification.
Posted in Automotive, Data Center, DDR, DFI, LPDDR, Memory, Storage
New applications like Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous cars, Augmented reality, Embedded vision are driving stricter requirements around memory performance and power efficiency. Memory is central to these systems, that require high bandwidth and speed along with lower power and lower cost. With these emerging market needs, the memory industry started to move from planar (2D) DRAMs to wide I/O or a 3D technology TSVs (Through Silicon Vertical interconnect access) such as HBM (high bandwidth memory). For more insight on HBM, read our blog “Next Generation Memory Technology for Graphics, Networking and HPC.” Low Power DRAM technology, evolved to the fifth-generation(LPDDR5) to deliver significant reduction in power and extremely high bandwidth as compared to LPDDR4. In this blog, we discuss LPDDR5 new features based on our understanding from collaboration with memory vendors and early adopters of Synopsys VIP over last 2 years.
Posted in Automotive, Camera, DDR, DFI, Display, HBM, HMC, LPDDR, Memory, Mobile SoC
SoC performance is a key competitive advantage in the marketplace, and the choice and configuration of protocol IP and interconnects is geared towards maximizing said performance. A case in point is the use of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) technology and memory controllers. Currently in its third generation, HBM boasts of high-performance while using lesser power in a substantially smaller form factor than DDR. That said, how do teams ensure that the performance is delivered in the context of their SoC design?
Posted in Automotive, Data Center, DDR, DFI, events, HBM, LPDDR, Memory, Uncategorized
DRAM memories are the ‘heart’ of any computational device, e.g. smart phones, laptops, servers etc. LPDDR4 was mainly designed to increase memory speed and efficiency for mobile computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, and ultra-thin notebooks. It supports speeds up to 4267Mbps (double the speed of LPDDR3) and 1.1 V input/output buffer power, along with many other improvements compared to its predecessor (LPDDR3/LPDDR2). Below is a comparison of key features between all the three generations of LPDDR.
Posted in Automotive, Data Center, DDR, DFI, LPDDR, Memory, Mobile SoC
Posted in Data Center, DDR, Debug, DFI, eMMC, events, Flash, HBM, HMC, LPDDR, Memory, ONFi, Storage, UFS
The DDR PHY Interface (DFI) is used in several consumer electronics devices including smart phones. DFI is an interface protocol that defines signals, timing, and programmable parameters required to transfer control information and data to and from the DRAM devices, and between MC (Micro Controller) and PHY. DFI is applicable to all DRAM protocols including DDR4, DDR3, DDR2, DDR, LPDDR4, LPDDR3, LPDDR2 and LPDDR.
Posted in DDR, DFI, LPDDR, Uncategorized
Synopsys VC VIP provides Verdi Protocol Analyzer, a protocol and memory aware debug environment . In my previous blog Debugging Memory Protocols with the Verdi Protocol Analyzer, I discussed the value add for using the Verdi Protocol Analyzer to debug memory protocols easily and efficiently. Also, I described how easy it is to look at a specific command as a transaction rather than as interpreted signals. In this blog I’m going to show another feature that makes Verdi Protocol Analyzer the tool of choice for debugging memory protocol issues and for validating proper system behavior. Furthermore, the tool can be used for verification of the command sequencer and the interaction between the DUT and the memory models. The feature, we are going to look at today, is synchronizing transactions to the corresponding signals.
Posted in DDR, Debug, DFI, Flash, HBM, HMC, LPDDR, Memory, Uncategorized
