Micron will begin production of a new memory device built using the first commercial CMOS manufacturing technology to employ through-silicon vias (TSVs). HMC parts will be manufactured at IBM’s advanced semiconductor fab in East Fishkill, N.Y., using the company’s 32nm, high-K metal gate process technology.

IBM to Produce Micron’s Hybrid Memory Cube in Debut of First Commercial, 3-D Chip-Making Capability: HMC technology uses advanced TSVs — vertical conduits that electrically connect a stack of individual chips — to combine high-performance logic with Micron’s DRAM. IBM’s TSV chip-making process can enable Micron’s Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) to achieve speeds 15 times faster than what is currently available. HMC prototypes, for example, clock in with bandwidth of 128 gigabytes per second (GB/s). By comparison, current state-of-the-art devices deliver 12.8 GB/s. HMC also requires 70 per cent less energy to transfer data while offering a smaller form factor — just 10 per cent of the footprint of conventional memory.