Memory Module Technologies: TCP, EPOC and FEMMA

Elpida is a name that you may not be familiar with, but the two companies behind the Elpida joint venture, Hitachi and NEC, have been long time players in the memory industry.

Elpida uses the Tape Carrier Packaging (TCP) technology, which is used to stack and mount 36 pieces of DDR SDRAM on a single DIMM. This proprietary packaging technology offers improved thermal characteristics over conventional TSOP stacked modules, and enables a thinner module package (4.8 mm vs. 6.8mm). The DDR devices used on the modules are produced with Elpida's 0.13 micron process technology, supporting 2.5 Volt operation and Error Checking and Correction (ECC).

The result is a slimmer, low profile, thermal-efficient, high-density DIMM that is designed with a 1.2-inch height to allow the maximum number of DIMM modules in in a space-limited 1U rack server.

Elpida's 1.2 inch 2 Gigabyte DDR SDRAM DIMM using stacked TCPs