The One-Transistor, One-Capacitor (1T1C) Dynamic Random

Access Memory (DRAM), and its Impact on Society

R. Jacob Baker
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Boise State University
1910 University Dr., ET 201
Boise, ID 83725
jbaker@boisestate.edu

Abstract Memory technology development, in particular dynamic random access

memory (DRAM), has been the greatest driving force in the advancement of
solid-state technology for integrated circuit development over the last 40 years.
The origin of DRAM circuits and technology can be traced to Dr. Dennards
Patent (Number 3,387,286) granted on June 4, 1968. This truly visionary work,
using a single transistor and capacitor (the 1T1C), is one of the most
manufactured devices in the history of mankind. This talk will review the impact
of his invention and discuss the brilliance of Dr. Dennard for conceiving the
invention of the 1T1C cell prior to the maturity of metal oxide semiconductor
(MOS) technology and in the face of critics that may have likely asked why in
the world would we want a memory, DRAM, that forgets its contents!?

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 Lets Step Back in Time

What are the following (hint: they were found in your local
supermarket in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s)

Photos taken from ebay.com

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 Semiconductor-based Electronics were still new during
this period of time

Does anyone remember the birth of the transistor radio?

Below is seen the 2-transistor Furtura transistor radio (ca. 1955)
9 Note the output is via an earphone
9 Also note the schematic (not many, if any, consumer electronics products
today come with a schematic)

Photos taken from ebay.com

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 Evolution of the Transistor Radio

These were a big deal both because they were portable (something not
practically possible with vacuum tube radios) and because they used a
new technology (solid-state devices that didnt wear out)

Photos taken from ebay.com

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 Growing Complexity

Note the use of bipolar junction technology to replace vacuum tubes

Photo taken from ebay.com

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 What was going on with memory storage during this time?

Dominated by the magnetic core memory seen below

During the 1960s solid-state memory was developed based on the BJT
9 Ultimately wasnt successful (compared to MOS-based memory)

1 mm

Image from wikipedia.org

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 So why is Dr. Dennards invention such a big deal?

During the excitement of bipolar technology replacing vacuum tubes

in most electronic devices he filed an invention disclosure on July 14,
1967 that
9 Used metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology
9 Proposed a memory, the one-transistor, one-capacitor (1T1C cell), that
forgets its contents!
Why is using MOS technology such a big deal over bipolar?
9 MOS technology is scalable!
9 Another significant contribution from Dr. Dennards is scaling theory.
Why is a memory that forgets its contents such a big deal?
9 Its small!
9 Its fast!

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 Dennards Scaling Theory*

Predicted that MOS devices would continue to shrink in

size (scale) over time
9 Higher density
9 Faster
9 Low power
Also discussed how interconnect would scale
9 RC times of the lines dont scale but as distances shrink
delays drop

* Dennard, R.H.; Gaensslen, F.H.; Rideout, V.L.; Bassous, E., and LeBlanc, A.R., Design
of ion-implanted MOSFET's with very small physical dimensions, IEEE Journal of
Solid-State Circuits, Volume 9, Issue 5, Oct 1974, pp. 256 - 268

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 Scaling Theory

Scaling from Dennards paper

9 Device and Circuit Scaling
9 Interconnect Scaling
9 Scale parameter is about 1.4 (1/ = 0.7)

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 The One-Transistor, One-Capacitor (1T1C) Dynamic
Random Access Memory (DRAM) cell

The array is formed with word (row) and column (bit) lines

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 Folded and Open Arrays

The open array

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 Folded and Open Arrays

The folded array

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 The Folded Array

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 Further Reduction in Cell Size

Sharing the bitline contact

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 Mbit Pair: Folded Array

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 Folded Array Cell Size

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 Open Array: 6F2

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 Array Block

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 The 1T1C DRAM Cell

ACT

Row 1 1-transistor, 1-capacitor (1T1C) DRAM Cell

Row 2

EQ

VDD/2

NLAT

Col 1

I/O

I/O

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 SEM Photo of a Modern DRAM Array

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 How is DRAM used today?

Workstations Personal Digital Assistants

Units - 1.69M Units 8.9M
DRAM 5,741MB/unit average DRAM - 65MB average
DRAM Revenue - $1,164M DRAM Revenue - $698M
Source: iSuppli Source: iSuppli

PC Servers, Enterprise
Units 0.91M
DRAM 24,581MB
Notebook DRAM Revenue - $2,684M
Computers Source: iSuppli

Units - 51M Desktop Computers

DRAM 510MB Units 150M
DRAM Revenue - $3,105M DRAM 560MB
Source: iSuppli
DRAM Revenue - $10,048M
Source: iSuppli

Memory Upgrades Printers

Units 87M Units - 112M
DRAM 295MB DRAM 35MB
DRAM Revenue - $3,060M DRAM Revenue - $156M
Source: iSuppli Source: iSuppli

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 Communications and Networking Market

Cellular Phones SetTop Boxes Cable Modems

Units - 740M Units 62M Units 15.7M
DRAM 5MB DRAM 56MB DRAM 8MB
Flash 87MB Flash 2MB

DSL Modems
Cellular Base Stations
Units 55M
Units - 0.35M
DRAM 8MB
DRAM - 256MB
Flash 2MB
Flash 5112MB

LAN Switches LowEnd to MidRange Routers

Units 113.5M
Units 1.5M
DRAM 15MB
DRAM 406MB

Sources: iSuppli, Gartner, Portelligent, Instat

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 DRAM Demand by End-Use Application

100%
Industrial Automotive
Consume r
Mo bile C o m m u nic atio ns
P C G ra p hics
80%
Wire d Othe r Da ta
Perc en t o f To t al M eg abi t s

Communica tions P roce ssing*

60% Up gra d e Mod ule s

En tr y L ev el Ser v er s ( x 86)

Mob ile /Note b ooks

40%

20% De sktop P C

0%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

*Other Data Processing includes mainframe servers, enterprise servers, workstations, handheld PCs, storage cards,
printers, and internet appliances

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 Worldwide DRAM Shipments by Type

100% 51 2Gb DDR3

1Gb
2M
b DDR2
90% D 1Gb DDR3
D
Perc ent of Total Megabytes Produc ed

R
80%

70% 128Mb
512 Mb DDR2
RDRAM
60% 512Mb
256Mb DDR DDR3
50%
256
40% Mb
128 SD
Mb
DDR
30%
64Mb DDR
20% 128
Mb
64Mb EDO SDR
64M
10% b SD
RA M
16Mb SDRAM
FP/EDO
0%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

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 DRAM Technology Trends

100%

90%

80%

70%

60% DDR3
DDR2
Units

50%
DDR
40% SDRA M

30%

20%

10%

0%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

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 DRAM Density Trends

100%

90%

80%
4 Gb
70%
2 Gb
60% 1 Gb
512 Mb
Units

50%
256 Mb
40% 128 Mb
64 Mb
30%
16 Mb
20%

10%

0%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: IDC, Isuppli, Gartner, IC Insights Q106

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 Historical PC Market Growth

60,000,000 35%
30%
50,000,000
25%

Year over Year Growth

Units in Millions

20%
40,000,000
15%
30,000,000 10%
5%
20,000,000
0%
- 5%
10,000,000
- 10%
0 - 15%
1Q95
3Q95
1Q96
3Q96
1Q97
3Q97
1Q98
3Q98
1Q99
3Q99
1Q00
3Q00
1Q01
3Q01
1Q02
3Q02
1Q03
3Q03
1Q04
3Q04
1Q05
3Q05E
Grand Total Grand Total

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 Price per Bit Cycles

100,000.00
1975 Historically Price per Bit has
1977 declined by an average of 9%
10,000.00 1974 every quarter
1979
1976 (1974-2005)
1981
Pric e per B it (Mil ic ents )

1978 1983
1,000.00 1980
1985 1987
1982
1984 1989
100.00
1991 1993
1986 1988 1995
1990
10.00 1992 1994
1997

1996 1999
1.00
1998 2001
2000 2003
2005
0.10
2002
2004
0.01 10,000
1

100

1,000,000

100,000,000
12
Cumulative Bit Volume (10 )

Source: Gartner, 05/05

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 Americas DRAM Unit Shipments by Density
2,000.0

1,800.0

1,600.0

1Gb
1,400.0
Millions of Units

1,200.0
512Mb
1,000.0

64Mb
800.0
256Mb
600.0

128Mb
400.0

200.0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

1Mbit 4Mbit 16Mbit 64Mbit 128Mbit 256Mbit 512Mbit 1Gbit 2Gbit 4Gbit 8Gbit

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 256Mb Equivalent Unit DRAM Shipments
256Mb Equivalent Units Shipped
(K Units)

700,000 Total 256Mb EU 100%

12/12 Growth 90%
600,000
80%
500,000 70%
60%
400,000
50%
300,000
40%

200,000 30%
20%
100,000
10%
0 0%
Apr-98
Jul-98
Oct-98
Jan-99
Apr-99
Jul-99
Oct-99
Jan-00
Apr-00
Jul-00
Oct-00
Jan-01
Apr-01
Jul-01
Oct-01
Jan-02
Apr-02
Jul-02
Oct-02
Jan-03
Apr-03
Jul-03
Oct-03
Jan-04
Apr-04
Jul-04
Oct-04
Jan-05
Apr-05
Baker 30
 DRAM Applications with
the Highest Unit Growth Rates
(CAGR 2004 2008)

Entry-Level PC Servers

Internet Appliances

Mobile PCs

Wireless LAN Client Access

Wireless LAN Access Point/Bridge

SAN Switches

MP3 player

Flash Storage Cards

Digital TVs

DVD Video Recorder

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

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 Fastest Growing DRAM Consumption

(CAGR 2004 2009)

Enterprise Servers

Upgrade Module

Handheld Computers

Mobile PCs

Deskbound PCs

Entry-Level PC Servers

Workstations

Internet Appliances

Remote Access RAC & RAS

Mobile Handsets

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

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 Summary Overview

DRAM chips are found in virtually every computer in use today.

Looking at the simplicity of the 1T1C cell one might wonder about
the significance of this invention by modern day standards. However,
if it is remembered that this idea was conceived back in the 1960s
before MOS technology had matured enough for production or the
idea that circuits could be dynamic (only operating correctly for a
short period of time) the significance of the invention becomes clear.
What is usually not mentioned when talking about Dr. Dennards
contributions to the 1T1C memory cell is his contributions of seeing
this idea to product (the true test for any practical electrical engineer).
The MOS process development (and the concerns for defects and
reliability which have a drastic effect on the dynamic operation of
MOS circuits) and supporting circuitry are also extremely important
contributions that Dr. Dennard made while at IBM. In summary, Dr.
Dennard cut the path for modern DRAM memory chip developments.

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