Changxin Memory has started producing 19nm computer memory

According to AnandTech, Changxin Storage Technology Co., Ltd. (CXMT) has begun producing computer memory based on the 19nm process, and the company has developed at least two 10nm process roadmaps and plans to produce various types of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in the future. In addition, Changxin Storage also plans to build two more wafer fabs to increase production.

Changxin Memory aims to build a domestic manufacturing base for memory chips that integrates design and manufacturing. It was jointly funded by Hefei Industrial Investment, an investment platform under the Hefei Municipal Government, and GigaDevice, a leading domestic memory company, in May 2016. It is the largest single investment industrial project in Anhui Province. At present, the project has passed multiple levels of review and obtained the mass production yield test report from the China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, a testing agency under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Currently, Changxin Storage has a monthly production capacity of about 20,000 wafers, but as the company's order volume grows, the output will gradually increase. It is expected that by the end of 2020, the production capacity of its 10nm-class process technology will be 120,000 wafers (12 inches).

Changxin Memory said that 77% of its employees are engineers engaged in R&D-related work. In May this year, Zhu Yiming, chairman and CEO of Changxin Memory, said that from the perspective of technology sources, Hefei Changxin cooperated with Qimonda and combined Changxin's own technology. Through cooperation with Qimonda, more than 10 million technical documents related to DRAM (about 2.8TB of data) were collected. Now the early accumulation has been completed.

It is understood that Changxin Storage is using its 10G1 technology (19 nm process) to manufacture 4 Gb and 8 Gb DDR4 memory chips, aiming to commercialize and launch them in the first quarter of 2020. The technology will be used for LPDDR4X memory manufactured in the second half of 2020.

From the roadmap, Changxin Storage has also planned 10G3 (17 nm process) products for DDR4, LPDDR4X, DDR5, and LPDDR5. It is expected that the CXMT 10G5 process will use HKMG and air gap bit line technology, and in the long term use columnar capacitors, all-around gate transistors, and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) process.

Previously, the company planned to start producing DDR4 memory in early 2019, but the new roadmap has delayed that by a year. Finally, the company also plans to build two more DRAM fabs.