Samsung Semiconductor has reached another milestone today as it unveiled the industry's first integrated power management ICs (PMICs) for DDR5 dual in-line memory modules (DIMM). Samsung is calling these new PMIC solutions: S2FPD01, S2FPD02, and S2FPC01.
The company claims that the S2FPD01 and S2FPD02 solutions were created primarily for today's data centers and enterprise servers that are usually responsible for running heavy analytics, machine and deep learning, and other various computing tasks in real time.
The main difference between the two DDR5 DIMM PMIC solutions is that the S2FPD01 was designed for modules with low density, whereas the S2FPD02 was created for higher density modules.
As for the third option — the S2FPC01 — it was created for use in consumer-grade desktop and laptop PCs. The S2FPC01 PMIC was manufactured on a 90nm process and promises a more agile performance in a smaller package.
The main advantages of integrated PMICs
Power management integrated circuits (PMICs) in previous DRAM generations were integrated onto the motherboard, but Samsung's latest solutions integrate the PMIC into the memory module itself.
This method has a few benefits over the previous generations, such as improved signal integrity, more reliable and sustained performance, as well as faster load-transient responses thanks to Samsung's high-efficiency hybrid gate driver and proprietary asynchronous-based dual-phase buck control design.
There could be a downside to this method though, as integrating a power management IC onto the memory itself as opposed to fitting it onto the motherboard could lead to an increase in DRAM prices. PMIC module prices weren't revealed but Samsung claims that all three DDR5 DIMM power management ICs are now being sampled to customers.
