Items tagged with flash memory
A company called Kioxia (spun out of Toshiba) has developed an interesting technology that could potentially pave a path beyond today's quad-level cell (QLC) NAND flash memory chips, into the next-generation of penta-level cell (PLC) parts. It's a breakthrough of sorts, in that it's the world's first three-dimensional semicircular split-gate flash memory cell structure. The name for this tech is Twin BiCS flash. There's a ton of technobabble in the press announcement, but the short version is, Kioxia developed a novel way of packing smaller cells to increase memory density beyond what is possible with today's QLC NAND flash memory technology. "Twin BiCS flash achieves superior program slope and...
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Anyone who has been paying attention will have noticed that solid state drive prices have come down over the few months, and the year as a whole. It is now relatively affordable to buy a 512GB or even 1TB SSD, especially if you catch one on sale. Well, things may be getting even better for consumers. There is an oversupply of NAND flash memory that is expected pushes SSD prices down even further, this year and into 2019. How low are we talking about here? Jim Handy, an analyst with Objective Analysis, said he expects the market for NAND flash memory to correct itself, or even bottom out altogether, to actual cost of production of 64-layer 3D NAND flash, The Register reports. That would put the...
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Memory chip maker Hynix continues to make impressive (and fast) strides in the field of NAND flash memory. Having launched 36-layer 128-gigabit (Gb) three-dimensional (3D) NAND flash chips in April 2016 followed by mass production of 48-layer 256Gb 3D NAND chips just seven months later, the company is now touting the industry's first 72-layer 256Gb 3D NAND flash chips. Hynix is using its own technologies to build these new NAND flash chips, which are based on triple-level cell (TLC) memory. TLC NAND chips are typically found in budget oriented solid state drives (SSDs) as they're less expensive than their multi-level cell (MLC) counterparts, but reliability and performance are not on the same...
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Western Digital, a major player in the storage industry, announced this week that it has completed development of its next generation 3D NAND technology called BiCS3. Limited production is already underway in Japan with initial output expected later this year. If everything goes to plan, volume production will begin in the first half of next year. BiCS3 is the third generation of Bit-Cost Scalable NAND jointly developed between Western Digital and Toshiba. It's the world's first 64-layer 3D NAND solution, delivering the smallest chip area of any published 3D NAND. The initial plans are to deploy BiCS3 in 256 gigabit capacity followed by a range of capacities up to half a terabit on a single chip...
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At some point in time, solid state drives (SSDs) are likely to finally supplant mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) just as USB thumb sticks replaced floppies, but it won't happen until the cost of NAND flash memory drops even further, paving the way for parity in terms of price-per-gigabyte. It may even happen sooner than later—BeSang Inc., inventor of 3D monolithic chip technology in 2010, claims to have found a way to reduce the cost of 3D NAND from over 20 cents per gigabyte to just around 2 cents per gigabyte. The path to cheaper 3D NAND lies in shrinking the cell size of the overall structure, which BeSang calls a "fundamental problem" of Samsung's approach to 3D NAND flash memory. "Samsung’s...
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SanDisk has announced the release of third-generation Fusion ioDrive PCIe and Mezzanine flash cards, in doing so marking the first integration of SanDisk NAND flash and Virtual Storage Layer (VSL) software into the ioMemory product line since the company acquired Fusion-io in June 2014 for $1.1 billion. Flash technology has moved significantly forward since the SanDisk's acquisition of Fusion, with smaller geometries and denser dies, all of which mean more flash capacity can now be placed on a PCIe flash card with performance raised and/or prices cut. Which explains why SanDisk is saying that their new products — built with SanDisk NAND — will offer a four times price performance improvement,...
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Mars rover Opportunity is in the news again, this time for suffering a spell of "brief amnesia" related to its 256MB flash memory just five (5) days after a full reformatting of its memory banks. No scientific data was lost as a result of the blip in the device's nonvolatile memory, though, and the rover continued its current schedule of activities, including the examining of a rock named "Athens" by its robotic arm. Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January 2004 just three weeks after its sister rover Spirit, has thus far functioned a remarkable 4000+ days beyond its original 90 sol (92.5 day) mission, moving about* and performing various mostly geology-based experiments. The rover makes...
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Toshiba and SanDisk announced the joint development of what they claim is the world's first 48-layer three dimensional stacked cell structure flash memory, otherwise known as BiCS (Bit Cost Scalable), a 2-bit-per-cell 128-gigabit (16 gigabytes) device. Put another way, BiCS is essentially Toshiba's version of the 3D NAND flash memory that's shipping with newer Samsung solid state drives (SSDs). The appeal of a 3D stacked cell structure is that it negates the need to continually shrink the size of NAND flash memory cells by using thinner process technologies and the technological hurdles that go along with it. Instead, stacking the cells allows for greater density and reduces costs, all while...
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Two well known players in the flash storage business are about to become one. In somewhat of a surprise move, SanDisk inked an agreement to acquire Fuision-io in a deal that's worth about $1.1 billion. It's an all-cash offer of $11.25 per share, which is about 21 percent higher than Fusion-io's closing price on June 13. This is a big acquisition for SanDisk. The company is already an established player in the flash media space with its chips being found in smartphones, digital cameras, and various other mobile devices. SanDisk also uses its chips to market its own brand solid state drives (SSDs), including its Extreme PRO SSD introduced earlier this month. Not only does SanDisk make its own SSDs,...
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Micron said it's begun sampling next-generation 16-nanometer processing technology, enabling the industry's smallest 128-gigabit multi-level-cell NAND flash memory devices. This isn't just a big achievement in the flash industry, but it's also the most advanced processing node for any sampling semiconductor device, Micro claims. "Micron's dedicated team of engineers has worked tirelessly to introduce the world's smallest and most advanced Flash manufacturing technology," said Glen Hawk, vice president of Micron's NAND Solutions Group. "Our customers continually ask for higher capacities in smaller form factors, and this next-generation process node allows Micron to lead the market in meeting...
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Samsung this week announced that it has begun mass producing a 128-gigabit (Gb), 3-bit multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chip using a 10nm-class process technology, which equates to somewhere between 10nm and 20nm. These chips will lead to high-density memory solutions such as embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs). According to Samsung, these are the industry's highest density chips and also the best performing with 400Mbps data transfers based on the toggle DDR 2.0 interface. What that translates into for the consumer are bigger and faster storage solutions. "By introducing next-generation memory storage products like the 128Gb NAND chip, Samsung is extremely well situated...
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SanDisk announced a fast new memory card designed for smartphones and tablets. The new SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-I card offers up to 95MB/sec read and up to 90MB/sec write speeds. SanDisk claims this is the world's fastest mobile memory card. The card has a UHS Speed Class 1 rating (Class 10 equivalent). The SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-I card is available from SanDisk's website in 8GB and 16GB capacities for $59.99 and $99.99, respectively. The card is compatible with any device that accepts microSDHC cards. SANDISK INTRODUCES WORLD’S FASTEST MEMORY CARD FOR SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS Loads apps faster, transfers files quicker and improves overall system responsiveness with up...
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SandForce announced that it will be demonstrating its SF-2000 series SSD processors with Toshiba’s 24nm MLC NAND flash at the Flash Memory Summit 2011 in Santa Clara, CA this week. The two companies are working closely to improve the quality and performance of NAND flash as well as drive down costs. The marriage is designed to deliver reliable, high-performing solutions for enterprise, client, and industrial computing markets in products such as, according to Shigeo Ohshima (Technology Executive, Memory Design and Application Engineering, Toshiba Corporation) “thin-and-light notebooks as well as mainstream enterprise applications.” Toshiba’s space-efficient 24nm design...
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You know what the greatest thing about owning a USB 3.0 thumb drive is? You get to point at all your USB 2.0 toting friends and laugh. So maybe that wouldn't be very nice, which leads us to the second best thing about a SuperSpeed drive: the transfer rates! Corsair today gave its Flash Voyager USB 3.0 thumb drive the green light to land on store shelves, and assuming you have the requisite hardware to take advantage of USB 3.0 devices, you'll enjoy file transfers up to four times faster than typical USB 2.0 drives. You'll be able to pilot a Flash Voyager USB 3.0 drive later this month in one of three models, including 8GB ($20), 16GB ($30), and 32GB ($70). Corsair Ships Flash Voyager USB 3.0...
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