Elpida today announced that it has completed development of industry's smallest 40nm 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM. The latest development will help increase both performance and cost competitiveness of DDR3 memory.

The new 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM uses a smaller chip size to achieve a 44% higher chip yield per wafer compared with Elpida's 50nm DDR3 SDRAM and a 100% yield for DDR3 products that operate at 1.6Gbps, the highest speed standard for current DDR3.

Compared with 50nm products, it uses about two-thirds less current and supports 1.2V/1.35V operation as well as DDR3 standard 1.5V, thus reducing power consumption by as much as 45%.

Sample shipments of the 40nm 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM will start in November. Mass production is expected to begin before the end of 2009.