December 12, 2011
128GB, 20nm NAND Storage Announced.
Today, two leading producers of semiconductor chips, Intel and Micron have announced the development the world's first 128GB multi-layer cell NAND flash device. This technology is the first to use a 20-nanometer NAND process to fit this much storage capacity on such a small device. They have also announced today, that IM Flash Technologies, a collaborative joint development venture by Intel and Micron has started mass production of this chips predecessor, a 20nm 64GB NAND device.
Eight of the new 128GB storage modules fit side by side into a tiny package: a terabyte of data on a chip smaller than a US dime. Such memory chips are expected to be used in smartphones, computer tablets, SSDs (solid state drives) and a variety of other high-performance computational devices.
In a statement he released, Glen Hawk, Micron's vice president of NAND process technology, said: "As portable devices get smaller and sleeker, and server demands increase, our customers look to Micron for innovative new storage technologies and system solutions that meet these challenges. Our collaboration with Intel continues to deliver leading NAND technologies and expertise that are critical to building those systems."
The 128GB NAND flash parts make use of a new "planar cell structure" to get around standard floating gate scaling constraints in NAND process technology. The devices are the first in the industry to integrate a Hi-K metal gate stack, which enables more aggressive cell scaling than older architectures. This is what allows for such high capacity storage on increasingly smaller devices.
Intel's vice president and general manager of Non-Volatile Memory Solutions, Rob Crooke, also released a statement praising the collaborative effort required to produce industry leading devices. "It is gratifying to see the continued NAND leadership from the Intel-Micron joint development with yet more firsts as our manufacturing teams deliver these high-density, low-cost, compute-quality 20nm NAND devices."
The 128GB devices can achieve transfer speeds of 333 megatransfers per second (MT/s), meeting the high-speed ONFI 3.0 specification. Intel and Micron said to samples of the new NAND flash parts would be available in January, with mass production starting in the first half of 2012. We are excited to see the continued developments in this field, as higher capacity devices should continue to fall in price and rise in availability.
Eight of the new 128GB storage modules fit side by side into a tiny package: a terabyte of data on a chip smaller than a US dime. Such memory chips are expected to be used in smartphones, computer tablets, SSDs (solid state drives) and a variety of other high-performance computational devices.
In a statement he released, Glen Hawk, Micron's vice president of NAND process technology, said: "As portable devices get smaller and sleeker, and server demands increase, our customers look to Micron for innovative new storage technologies and system solutions that meet these challenges. Our collaboration with Intel continues to deliver leading NAND technologies and expertise that are critical to building those systems."
The 128GB NAND flash parts make use of a new "planar cell structure" to get around standard floating gate scaling constraints in NAND process technology. The devices are the first in the industry to integrate a Hi-K metal gate stack, which enables more aggressive cell scaling than older architectures. This is what allows for such high capacity storage on increasingly smaller devices.
Intel's vice president and general manager of Non-Volatile Memory Solutions, Rob Crooke, also released a statement praising the collaborative effort required to produce industry leading devices. "It is gratifying to see the continued NAND leadership from the Intel-Micron joint development with yet more firsts as our manufacturing teams deliver these high-density, low-cost, compute-quality 20nm NAND devices."
The 128GB devices can achieve transfer speeds of 333 megatransfers per second (MT/s), meeting the high-speed ONFI 3.0 specification. Intel and Micron said to samples of the new NAND flash parts would be available in January, with mass production starting in the first half of 2012. We are excited to see the continued developments in this field, as higher capacity devices should continue to fall in price and rise in availability.
