Fujitsu Ltd is to collaborate with Toshiba Corp on the development of high speed memory chips called fast-cycle random access memory (FCRAM). Fujitsu – which originally announced its intention to develop FCRAMs on its own last year (CI No 3,474) – is now working with Toshiba on the chip, which is two to three times faster than conventional dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In standard DRAM chips, each bit of data is stored in an individual ‘box’, with its own row and column address. The address specification is done in two passes – first the row address, then the column. The FCRAM speeds up the process by specifying both the row and column address at the same time, cutting data access times. FCRAMs will be used in PDAs, printers, set-top boxes and other consumer and multimedia devices. The firms plan to start shipping 64Mb FCRAMs in the first quarter of 2000.
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