News Matrix's 3D memory chips target game devices

Multi-story memory chips? Prepare to enter the Matrix... This from news.com

Matrix Semiconductor says there is only one way to go in chips: up.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has formally announced the second generation of its unusual memory chips, which consist of several layers of transistors rather than a single plane.

Layering transistors cuts down on the surface area of the chip, enabling more to be popped out of a single wafer. That, in turn, reduces manufacturing costs. And the real estate on a silicon wafer isn't cheap, said Dan Steere, vice president of sales and marketing at Matrix. Producing an acre of conventional silicon transistors costs about $1 billion, he indicated.

Matrix's chips, in quantities of 1,000, cost about $9 each. Equivalent flash memory chips cost about $15 each.

"We can make memory chips that are a lot denser and therefore cheaper," Steere said. "If you have real expensive real estate, it makes sense to build skyscrapers."

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Interesting idea - a pity that it's only ROM.