Rohm Co., a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer, announced on May 8, 2008, that it has developed a new technology that incorporates a non-volatile strage capacity in a register, which is used to retain the logic state of large-scale integrated (LSI) circuit. The company's new LSI technology has non-volatility that can retain data even without the power supply, which it claims is the first of its kind in the world.

Conventional LSI circuits require a continuous supply of power because their register contents are volatile, meaning that data will be lost if the power is turned off. Rohm has come up with a separate ferroelectric structure, based on its own mass-produce ferroelectric technology for its ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM), which has helped overcome difficulties in making non-volatile LSI circuits.

Rohm reports that when testing the technology with the central processing unit (CPU) of a game console, the CPU's power consumption was reduced by about 70 percent. This is because the CPU using non-volatile logic circuit needs no standby power, which is otherwise required frequently during a game. The company expects that the CPU's power consumption can be further reduced by 95 percent or more by optimizing the design. Applications in home electronics will also contribute to energy saving, since many use standby power to store data when turned off.

The company plans to launch sales of the new custom LSI products using non-volatile logic technology, and aims to start mass production within a year.

http://www.rohm.com/news/080508a.html

Posted: 2008/09/15 09:01:08 AM

TAG Eco-product/Business , Energy , Manufacturing industry