Random-access memory Other uses of RAM

In addition to serving as temporary storage and working space for the operating system
Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage. A random-access
and applications, RAM is used in numerous other ways.
device allows stored data to be accessed quickly in any random order. In contrast, other
data storage media such as hard disks, CDs, DVDs and magnetic tape, as well as early
primary memory types such as drum memory, read and write data only in a Virtual memory
predetermined order, consecutively, because of mechanical design limitations.
Most modern operating systems employ a method of extending RAM capacity, known as
Today, random-access memory takes the form of integrated circuits. Strictly speaking, "virtual memory".
modern types of DRAM are not random access, as data is read in bursts, although the
name DRAM / RAM has stuck. However, many types of SRAM, ROM, OTP, and NOR Software can "partition" a portion of a computer's RAM, allowing it to act as a much
flash are still random access even in a strict sense. RAM is often associated with volatile faster hard drive that is called a RAM disk.
types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where its stored information is lost
if the power is removed. The ROM chip is then disabled while the initialized memory locations are switched in
on the same block of addresses (often write-protected).

History The "memory wall" is the growing disparity of speed between CPU and memory outside
the CPU chip.
Early computers used relays, or delay lines for "main" memory functions. Ultrasonic
delay lines could only reproduce data in the order it was written. Drum memory is an obsolete magnetic data storage device.

The first practical form of random-access memory was the Williams tube starting in
1947. It stored data as electrically charged spots on the face of a cathode ray tube. Design
Magnetic-core memory, invented in 1947 and developed up until the mid 1970s, became A drum is a large metal cylinder that is coated on the outside surface with a
a widespread form of random-access memory. ferromagnetic recording material.

Magnetic core memory was the standard form of memory system until displaced by SD, DDR, DDR2 & DDR3 RAM Comparison
solid-state memory in integrated circuits, starting in the early 1970s. Robert H. Dennard
invented dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) in 1968; this allowed replacement There are mainly four types of RAM; SD, DDR, DDR2 and DDR3.
of a 4 or 6-transistor latch circuit by a single transistor for each memory bit, greatly
increasing memory density at the cost of volatility. SDRAM stands for synchronous dynamic random access memory.

The three main forms of modern RAM are static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM DDR SDRAM stands for double data rate synchronous dynamic
(DRAM) and Phase-change memory (PRAM). In SRAM, a bit of data is stored using the random access memory.
state of a flip-flop. DRAM stores a bit of data using a transistor and capacitor pair,
which together comprise a memory cell. DDR2 SDRAM stands for double data rate 2 synchronous dynamic
random access memory.

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 DDR Memories Power Management
So by now after reading the above it is quite obvious what DDR3
SDRAM stands for, double data rate 3 synchronous dynamic random DDR1 memory has a push-pull output buffer, while the input receiver is a differential
access memory. stage requiring a reference bias midpoint, VREF.
DDR Memories Comparison and Power Sequencing Violations
Overview
DDR memories must be powered up in a specific manner.
We realize that one of the most important aspects of a computer is its capability to store
large amounts of information in what we normally call "memory." Conclusions
DDR Memory Characteristics To remain competitive, you have to create new designs that take advantage of today's
advanced technology. To understand the best solution for a specific design challenge, it
DDR memory's primary advantage is the ability to fetch data on both the rising and is important to research well, giving you the opportunity to weigh the advantages of
falling edge of a clock cycle, doubling the data rate for a given clock frequency. technologies, such as DDR memory, to incorporate them in new product developments.
This article gives you a brief and useful overview of DDR memories, describing how
they are different from other memories to give you a good starting point in choosing the
Types of DDR Memories best solution for your specific needs.

There are presently three generations of DDR memories:

Carl Zeiss AG
1. DDR1 memory, with a maximum rated clock of 400 MHz and a 64-bit (8 bytes)
data bus is now becoming obsolete and is not being produced in massive There are currently two parts of the company, Carl Zeiss AG located in Oberkochen with
quantities. Technology is adopting new ways to achieve faster speeds/data rates important subsidiaries in Aalen, Göttingen and Munich, and Carl Zeiss GmbH located in
for RAM memories. Jena.
2. DDR2 technology is replacing DDR with data rates from 400 MHz to 800 MHz
and a data bus of 64 bits (8 bytes). Widely produced by RAM manufacturers, Carl Zeiss opened an optics workshop in Jena in 1846. By 1847 he was making
DDR2 memory is physically incompatible with the previous generation of DDR microscopes full-time. By 1861 Zeiss was considered to be among the best scientific
memories. instruments in Germany with about 20 people working under him with his business still
3. DDR3 technology picks up where DDR2 left off (800 Mbps bandwidth) and growing. By 1866 the Zeiss workshop sold their 1,000 th microscope. In 1872 physicist
brings the speed up to 1.6 Gbps. One of the chips already announced by ELPIDA Ernst Abbe joined Zeiss and along with Otto Schott designed greatly improved lenses for
contains up to 512 megabits of DDR3 SDRAM, with a column access time of the optical instruments they were producing. After Carl Zeiss's death in 1888, the
8.75 ns (CL7 latency) and data transfer rate of 1.6 Gbps at 1.6 GHz. The 1.5V business was incorporated as the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung in 1889.
DDR3 voltage level also saves some power compared to DDR2 memory.
The Hensoldt System Technology division (resulting from a merger of the military
The termination voltage (VTT) supply must sink and source current at one-half output optics operations of Leica and Hensoldt) was continued by Zeiss under the Hensoldt
voltage (1/2 VDDQ). name until 2006.

2
At the end of the war Jena was occupied by the US Army. When Jena and Dresden were Dennard was born in Terrell, Texas, U.S.. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in
incorporated into the Soviet occupation zone, later East Germany, some parts of Zeiss Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in 1954 and 1956,
Jena were relocated by the US army to the Contessa manufacturing facility in Stuttgart, respectively. He earned a Ph.D. from Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh,
West Germany, while the remainder of Zeiss Jena was reestablished by the (Eastern) Pennsylvania, in 1958. His professional career was spent as a researcher for International
German Democratic Republic as Kombinat VEB Zeiss Jena.[8] Business Machines.

The western business was restarted in Oberkochen (in southwestern Germany) as Opton In 1968, he invented dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Dennard was also
Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1946, which became Zeiss-Opton Optische among the first to recognize the tremendous potential of downsizing MOSFETs. The
Werke Oberkochen GmbH in 1947, but was soon renamed to Carl Zeiss. West German scaling theory he and his colleagues formulated in 1974 postulated that MOSFETs
Zeiss products were labelled Opton for sale in the Eastern bloc, while East German Zeiss continue to function as voltage-controlled switches while all key figures of merit such as
products were labelled "Zeiss Jena" for sale in Western countries. layout density, operating speed, and energy efficiency improve – provided geometric
dimensions, voltages, and doping concentrations are consistently scaled to maintain the

Williams tube same electric field.

The Williams tube, better called the Williams-Kilburn tube (after inventors Freddie
Williams and Tom Kilburn),[1][2] developed in 1946 and 1947, was a cathode ray tube
used as a computer memory to electronically store binary data.

Williams and Kilburn applied for British patents on Dec. 11, 1946 [4] and Oct. 2, 1947,[5]
followed by US patent applications on Dec. 10, 1947 (U.S. Patent 2,951,176) and May
16, 1949 (U.S. Patent 2,777,971).

Working principle
The Williams tube depends on an effect called secondary emission. When a dot is drawn
on a cathode ray tube, the area of the dot becomes slightly positively charged and the
area immediately around it becomes slightly negatively charged, creating a charge well.

The dot can be erased by drawing a second dot immediately next to the first one, thus
filling the charge well.

Robert H. Dennard
Robert Dennard (born September 5, 1932) is an American electrical engineer and
inventor.