Micron debuts 34nm 32Gb NAND flash memory chips

Posted on Tuesday, June 30 2009 @ 15:09 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Memory maker Micron announced mass production of 34nm MLC NAND flash memory, these chips will be available in 32Gb, 16Gb and 8Gb capacities.
As consumers demand increased capacity to store more music, videos, photos, and applications in ever smaller portable electronic devices, manufacturers need a storage solution that delivers on capacity, performance, and size. Micron’s new 16- and 32-gigabit (Gb) NAND chips pair large capacity with performance, providing a compelling solution for today’s demanding portable storage requirements that are tailored to end-customer product dimensions. The newly architected 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND chip is 17 percent smaller than Micron’s first-generation 32Gb chip. The 16Gb MLC NAND chip, at just 84mm², provides high-capacity in an ultra tiny package. Micron is also now sampling 8- and 16Gb single-level cell (SLC) NAND chips using the 34nm process.

Additionally, Lexar Media, Inc. – a subsidiary of Micron and a leading provider of consumer memory products for digital devices – is taking advantage of Micron’s new 34nm NAND products by delivering a wide range of flash memory cards and USB flash drives utilizing this technology.

“Our industry-leading NAND products are opening new possibilities for some of the world’s most popular consumer electronic devices,” said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s memory group. “With our new 16- and 32Gb NAND chips in mass production, we are enabling customers to design cost-effective, high-capacity storage in their small-form factor products, using less space and fewer die. In addition, the high-speed interface is ideal in the industry’s quest to continue to increase throughput performance for SSDs.”

Both products feature an ONFI 2.1 synchronous interface that delivers transfer speeds of up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s). In comparison, traditional SLC NAND is limited to 40 MB/s. With this improved transfer speed, the interface delivers the fastest read and write throughputs offered in today’s NAND devices. And with solid state drives (SSDs) trending toward a SATA 6 Gb/second interface, the high-speed NAND interface enables manufacturers to design products that deliver twice the throughput of today’s existing SATA 3Gb/s solutions. Customers can expect this high-speed interface designed into all future high-density Micron® NAND products.

Lexar Media is utilizing Micron’s high-capacity 34nm technology in its high-performance memory cards, including the new Lexar® Platinum II 32GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC™) memory card and the Lexar 16GB microSDHC™ mobile memory card. By the end of September, Micron’s new 34nm NAND will also be used in a wide range of Lexar microSD™ and microSDHC cards, Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) cards, and various capacities of Secure Digital, SDHC, CompactFlash®, and Memory Stick PRO Duo™ cards. Additionally, Micron 34nm NAND will be used in Lexar’s JumpDrive® USB flash drives, including JumpDrive Retrax, JumpDrive TwistTurn, JumpDrive FireFly, and JumpDrive Secure II Plus.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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