IT News Online > Asia - Hardware - Samsung First to Begin Mass Producing 16 Gb NAND Flash Memory

Samsung First to Begin Mass Producing 16 Gb NAND Flash Memory
IT News Online Staff
2007-04-29

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., said that it has become the first company to begin mass producing 16 Gb NAND flash, the highest capacity memory chip now available. The company said it will fabricate the devices in 51 nm, the finest process technology to be used in memory mass production to date.

"In rolling out the densest NAND flash in the world, we are throwing open the gates to a much wider playing field for flash-driven consumer electronics," said Jim Elliott, director, flash marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. "To minimize production costs and improve performance, we have applied the finest process technology a 'half generation' ahead of the industry, which is introducing 55 nm and higher."

Samsung's 51 nm NAND flash chips can be produced 60% more efficiently than those produced with 60 nm process technology. Samsung achieved this new migration milestone just eight months after announcing production of its 60 nm 8 Gb NAND flash last August.

The new 16 Gb chip, which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure, can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 GB of memory in a single memory card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has accelerated the chip's read and write speeds by approximately 80% over current MLC data processing speeds.

NAND flash memory reads and writes data in units called "pages". The 60 nm NAND flash memory is designed with a 2 KB page size, but the 51 nm 16 Gb version can process data in 4 KB pages, nearly doubling the data rate. The product also maintains the same 4 bit error-correcting code (ECC) capability as that of 60 nm NAND, allowing customers to use existing system interfaces with only minor firmware upgrades. With its 4 bit ECC, Samsung eliminates the need to secure a better ECC capability to assure sufficient reliability, which would have required new costly controllers.

Samsung will offer an optimized suite of Flash software and firmware-incorporated storage devices for music phones and MP3 players to support 4 KB pages. It also will provide a multi-plane performance optimization feature and wear-leveling for improved reliability. Memory cards and MP3 controllers to support the 4 KB-page are already available.

Technology migration to 16 Gb is expected to boost the recent explosive demand for high-density data storage in high-end music phones and the phenomenal trend toward user created content (UCC). As the demand for video content grows stronger by the day, products that feature extended recording time of high-resolution video footage, including mid-to-high-range digital cameras, will particularly benefit from the high capacity and performance of 16 Gb NAND flash memory.

Samsung said that with support technology in place, demand for 16 Gb NAND flash memory is expected to grow rapidly, pushing this new chip into the mainstream market beginning late this year. Aggregate global sales through 2010 are estimated to be $21 billion.



NAND Flash           New MLC (51 nm)    Current MLC (60 nm)  SLC (60 nm)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Read speed               30 MBps              17 MBps          33 MBps

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Write speed               8 MBps              4.4 MBps         13 MBps

----------------------------------------------------------------------