Chipkill

Chipkill is IBM's trademark for a form of advanced error checking and correcting (ECC) computer memory technology that protects computer memory systems from any single memory chip failure as well as multi-bit errors from any portion of a single memory chip. One simple scheme to perform this function scatters the bits of a Hamming code ECC word across multiple memory chips, such that the failure of any single memory chip will affect only one ECC bit per word. This allows memory contents to be reconstructed despite the complete failure of one chip. Typical implementations use more advanced codes, such as a BCH code, that can correct multiple bits with less overhead.