DDR-SDRAM stands for Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory and it is a common type of memory used-organized RAM in most of the processors. As the name suggests, SDRAM is synchronous and relies on the clock for signals, thus creating pre-defined cycles for data transfers.

Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) was a predecessor of the SDRAM memory standards. DRAM was introduced in 1970  but was asynchronous i.e., it was not regulated by a clock. When the processors started getting faster, DRAM failed in working at a pace with that. This led to the evolution of the more organized SDRAM.

 The first generation of SDRAM was SDR-SDRAM, which stands for Single Data Rate SDRAM. These were capable of transferring a single data signal per cycle. To improve the speed and efficiency of data transfer, DDR was introduced, in which data transfer was possible through both the leading edge and the falling edge of the clock, making it twice as fast as SDRAM. With the introduction of DDR, memory could now run at a lower clock rate at faster speeds using lesser energy. 

DDR2 was later introduced to meet the enhanced speed requirements. It came with an additional clock multiplier that doubled the data transfer speeds along with operating at the same bus speed. It was followed by the introduction of DDR3 RAM which had an integrated 4x clock multiplier, improving data speeds without increasing the bus speed. Besides the enhanced bandwidth, DDR3 also uses less power than DDR2.

Released to the market in 2014, DDR4 is a higher speed variant to DDR3. In addition to that, this version uses still lower voltage and is denser. The transfer rate of DDR4 is 2133~3200 MT/s compared to 800~1600 MT/s of DDR3. The next-generation DDR5 is already announced by JEDEC and is expected to be released by 2020.

Amphenol ICC continues to bring up solutions to support the developments in DDR SDRAM through these generations with connectors like DDR3 Memory Module Sockets, DDR4 Memory Module Sockets, DDR4 Ultra Low Profile Memory Module Sockets, DDR2 SO-DIMM Memory Module Sockets, and DDR4 SO-DIMM Memory Module Sockets.

We are ready to embrace the upcoming technology with our DDR5 Memory Module Sockets (SMT) as well. We are also offering standard and narrow latch versions for DDR5 products. The narrow latch version can help to facilitate more airflow as the DIMM sockets are expected to be placed next to each other. We are also working on introducing DDR5 SODIMM soon.