Posted on Wednesday, April 23 2014 @ 11:26 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
SanDisk and Toshiba announce the availability of 15nm NAND flash memory:
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced the availability of its 1Z-nanometer (nm) technology, the most advanced NAND flash process node in the world. The 15nm technology will ramp on both two bits-per-cell (X2) and three bits-per-cell (X3) NAND flash memory architectures with production ramp to begin in the second half of 2014.
“We are thrilled to continue our technology leadership with the industry’s most advanced flash memory process node, enabling us to deliver the world’s smallest and most cost effective 128 gigabit chips,” said Dr. Siva Sivaram, senior vice president, memory technology, SanDisk. “We are delighted that these new chips will allow us to further differentiate and expand our portfolio of NAND flash solutions.”
The 15nm technology uses many advanced process innovations and cell-design solutions to scale the chips along both axes. SanDisk's All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture, which contains proprietary programming algorithms and multi-level data storage management schemes, has been implemented in the 1Z technology to deliver NAND flash solutions with no sacrifice in memory performance or reliability. SanDisk’s 1Z technology will be utilized across its broad range of solutions, from removable cards to enterprise SSDs.
And here's Toshiba's press release:
Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) today announced that it has developed the world’s first 15-nanometer (nm)*1 process technology, which will apply to 2-bit-per-cell 128-gigabit (16 gigabytes) NAND flash memories. Mass production with the new technology will start at the end of April at Fab 5 Yokkaichi Operations, Toshiba’s NAND flash fabrication facility (fab), replacing second generation 19 nm process technology, Toshiba’s previous flagship process. The second stage of Fab 5 is currently under construction, and the new technology will also be deployed there.
Toshiba has achieved the world’s smallest class chip size with the 15nm process plus improved peripheral circuitry technology. The new chips achieve the same write speed as chips formed with second generation 19 nm process technology, but boost the data transfer rate to 533 megabits a second, 1.3 times faster, by employing a high speed interface.
Toshiba is now applying the 15nm process technology 3-bit-per-cell chips, and aims to start mass production in the first quarter of this fiscal year, to June 2014. The company will develop controllers for embedded NAND flash memory in parallel and introduce 3-bit-per-cell products for smartphones and tablets, and will subsequently extend application to notebook PCs by developing a controller compliant with solid state drives (SSD).
Toshiba continues to closely follow its process technology development roadmap and will strengthen product competitiveness and performance by applying leading-edge process to production. Looking to the future, Toshiba will reinforce its market leadership by promoting product innovation and development and ensuring that it is able to respond to a wide variety of clients' product needs, including smartphones, tablets, slim notebook PCs and enterprise products requiring high reliability, including SSD for data centers.
