Memory module and method having improved signal routing topology
First Claim
1. A memory module, comprising:
- a plurality of dynamic random access memory devices;
an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and
a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy have the same length.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A registered memory module includes several memory devices coupled to a register through a plurality of transmission lines forming a symmetrical tree topology. The tree includes several branches each of which includes two transmission lines coupled only at its ends to either another transmission line or one of the memory devices. The branches are arranged in several layers of hierarchy, with the transmission lines in branches having the same hierarchy having the same length. Each transmission line preferably has a characteristic impedance that is half the characteristic impedance of any pair of downstream transmission lines to which it is coupled to provide impedance matching. A dedicated transmission line is used to couple an additional memory device, which may or may not be an error checking memory device, to the register.
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Citations
84 Claims
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1. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of dynamic random access memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy have the same length. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals, the active memory component comprising a register for storing address and command signals and outputting the stored address and command signals to the memory devices; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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- 24. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of dynamic random access memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having the same length.
- 31. A method of coupling address and command signals between a register in a memory module for the storing address and command signals and a plurality of memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the register and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other.
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38. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which has a characteristic impedance and is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other, the characteristic impedance of each transmission line being approximately half the characteristic impedance of any transmission line to which it is coupled downsteam of the active memory component. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of dynamic random access memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; an additional memory device other than the plurality of memory devices; a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other; and a plurality of dedicated transmission lines each coupling a respective one of several of the terminals of the active memory component to respective terminals of the additional memory device. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having the same electrical characteristics and electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62)
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63. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices; an active memory component having a plurality of terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the terminals of the active memory component to a terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having the same length and electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (64)
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65. A memory module, comprising:
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a plurality of memory devices each of which has a plurality of input terminals; an active memory component having a plurality of output terminals; and a respective conductor tree coupling each of the output terminals of the active memory component to one of the input terminal of each of the plurality of memory devices, each of the conductor trees comprising at least one branch, each branch including a pair of transmission lines each of which is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices, the respective output terminal of the active memory component, or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other.
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- 66. A method of coupling signals between a plurality of memory devices in a memory module and a register for storing address and command signals and outputting the stored address and command signals to the memory devices, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the register and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having the same length.
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71. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising:
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coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having the same length; and coupling signals between the active memory component and an additional memory device mounted on the memory module substrate other than the plurality of memory devices, each of the signals being coupled between the active memory component and the additional memory device through a respective dedicated transmission line that is not directly connected to any of the plurality of memory devices. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73)
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- 74. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line has a characteristic impedance and is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other, the signals being coupled between the active memory component and the memory devices through the plurality of transmission lines by coupling each of the signals between upstream transmission lines and downstream transmission lines in which the characteristic impedance of each downstream transmission line is twice the characteristic impedance of the upstream transmission line to which it is coupled.
- 78. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of dynamic random access memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other.
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81. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising:
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coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other; and coupling signals between the active memory component and an additional memory device mounted on the memory module substrate other than the plurality of memory devices, the method comprising coupling each of a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the additional memory device through a respective dedicated transmission line that is not directly connected to any of the plurality of memory devices. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83)
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84. A method of coupling signals between an active memory component in a memory module and a plurality of memory devices in the memory module, the method comprising coupling a plurality of the signals between the active memory component and the memory devices through a plurality of transmission lines in which each transmission line is connected at only its ends to either one of the memory devices or to an end of another of the transmission lines, the transmission lines being arranged in a plurality of hierarchies with the transmission lines in the same hierarchy having electrical and physical characteristics that cause the signal propagation times through the transmission lines in the same hierarchy to be substantially equal to each other, the plurality of the signals being coupled from the memory devices to the active memory component through a plurality of transmission lines.
Specification