Monday August 23, 1999
Company Press Release
IDT and Micron Introduce New Smart ZBT SRAM Technology
Smart Feature Addresses Bus Contention Issues; Eases System Timing
Requirements
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Santa Clara, Calif., August 23, 1999
– Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT) and Micron Technology,
Inc., today introduced a new "Smart" feature for SRAM products
based on the revolutionary Zero Bus Turnaround™ (ZBT®)
architecture. The new specification for Smart ZBT™ SRAMs was jointly
developed by the companies to simplify system timing requirements. Products
utilizing the new Smart feature were also announced today by both companies
(see separate press releases).
Unlike traditional SRAMs, the outputs
of Smart ZBT SRAMs are designed to be dynamically adaptable to the user’s
system. The output turn-on (tCLZ) of the Smart ZBT SRAMs is designed
to match the requirement of the system and is strictly a function of
the system clock cycle time – thus making the output turn-on independent
of process, voltage or temperature. With this deterministic output turn-on
feature, Smart ZBT SRAMs ease system timing requirements by removing
the guesswork of when the SRAM begins to drive the system bus.
Traditional SRAMs are designed with
fast turn-on times in order to meet the timing requirements of high-speed
applications. These fast turn-on times coupled with the loose turn-off
(tCHZ) parameters of an ASIC or PLD can result in bus contention. The
new Smart ZBT SRAMs are designed for systems that incorporate less-aggressive
ASIC technology or other components, such as programmable logic devices
(PLDs), that may have slow turn-off parameters. These slow turn-off
times can delay the ASIC or PLD from getting off a bus that is shared
with a memory device, such as an SRAM. Bus contention occurs if the
ASIC does not get off the bus prior to the SRAM getting on the bus.
Smart ZBT SRAMs reduce the potential for bus contention by allowing
the output turn-on of the SRAM to adapt to the user’s system.
"Smart ZBT SRAMs were developed
for system designers who want to take advantage of the 100 percent bus
utilization provided by ZBT SRAMs, but were constrained by other components
in their system," said Mike Black, Micron Technology’s SRAM
marketing manager. "With the new Smart ZBT technology, we can now
offer ZBT products for all levels of networking products, from legacy
designs operating at slower frequencies up to today’s leading-edge
switches and routers, all of which have the common goal of providing
greater throughput."
"We defined and developed the original
ZBT architecture to address a specific system-level design need –
the elimination of idle bus cycles," said Pat Lasserre, SRAM marketing
manager at IDT. "With Smart ZBT SRAMs, IDT and Micron have raised
the bar and further addressed the needs of the system designer by tackling
the issue of bus contention and simplifying the timing requirements
within their designs. Unlike many of the knock-off memory products on
the market, ZBT SRAMs are designed from the ground up with the needs
of the system designer in mind. The new Smart ZBT SRAMs are also 100
percent backward compatible with the existing ZBT SRAMs."
ZBT Revolutionizes SRAM Market
ZBT SRAMs are also designed for performance-driven
networking products, such as switches and routers, requiring memories
with both high bandwidth and the capability of intermixing read-and-write
operations in any combination. In addition, all critical timing parameters
for ZBT SRAMs are referenced to the rising edge of the synchronous clock,
which simplifies the design of high-bandwidth switching systems.
Designers previously used synchronous-burst
SRAMs, requiring additional cycles to turn the bus around when transitioning
between writes and reads. The ZBT architecture outperforms conventional
synchronous-burst SRAMs by up to a factor of two by eliminating the
dead cycles, thereby increasing system bandwidth.
About Micron
Micron Technology, Inc., and its subsidiaries
manufacture and market DRAMs, very fast SRAMs, Flash, other semiconductor
components, memory modules, personal computer systems, and remote frequency
identification (RFID) products. Micron’s common stock is traded
on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol, MU.
About IDT
IDT enables a digitally connected world
by providing innovative semiconductor solutions to leading-edge system
designers in communications and computing. IDT’s broad product
mix consists of communications memories, networking devices, RISC microprocessors,
high-speed SRAMs, and high-performance logic and clock management products.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.,
the company employs approximately 4,700 people worldwide and has manufacturing
facilities in California, Oregon, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.
IDT stock is traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol "IDTI."
Additional information about IDT is easily accessible through the Web
at www.idt.com, on CD-ROM by calling 800/345-7015, or via fax-on-demand
at 800/9-IDT-FAX. The investor hotline is 408/654-6420.
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ZBT is a registered trademark and Zero
Bus Turnaround is a trademark of Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
and the architecture is supported by Micron Technology, Inc. and Motorola
Inc. Smart ZBT is a trademark of Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
and the architecture is also supported by Micron Technology, Inc. All
other brands or products are the trademark or registered trademark of
their respective owner. Integrated Device Technology, Inc. and Micron
Technology, Inc. disclaim any proprietary interest in the trademarks
of others.
IDB-053
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