China's CXMT hits 12nm-class DRAM milestone — new 5th-gen DRAM tech uses quadruple-patterning to boost die capacity by 50%

China's DRAM champion CXMT has begun mass production using its 5th-generation DRAM process technology.CXMT says its new process technology — G5, as the company calls it — reduces DRAM’s active-area half-pitch to 11.95nm using quadruple-patterning lithography. The 11.95nm half-pitch corresponds to an active-area pitch of 23.9nm, something that puts this particular dimension roughly in the range of other advanced 10nm-class DRAM technologies. However, it cannot be directly translated into a conventional DRAM node designation. Separately, CXMT says its DRAM-optimized high-K metal gate (HKMG) process reduced the height of the core cell array to 6,762nm.Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.