SK Hynix has begin development of a 1a (15-nanometer)-class DRAM that will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process in its production, sources within the company told TheElec Thursday.
The 4th-generation 10-nanometer-class DRAM is internally called “Canopus” __ the brightest star in the Carina Constellation, they said.
SK Hynix engineers has used various name for their past projects, with a particular fondness using name of famous stars.
Its 2x-class DRAM was code named Huma, which means great bird in Persian. The 2y-class DRAM was named Polaris after the North Star.
Its 2z-class DRAM was called Deneb, which means hen's tail in Arabic and is the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus.
For its first 10-nanometer class DRAM, 1x, it named it Alius, which means other world in latin.
Davinci was used for 1y and Rigel, a star in the constellation of Orion, was used for 1z.
SK Hynix is planning to increase 1y-class and 1z-class DRAM production to 40% of its total output for DRAM in the second half of the year.
Canopus will one of the most critical project the company faces to date, as it will be the first DRAM that the company is applying EUV. “The most important question is __ can SK Hynix secure competitiveness in its production with the application of EUV,” one of the sources said.
“Put simply, EUV needs to lead to fewer production steps,” they added.