Kioxia and WD reveal 6th gen 3D flash memory with 162 layers

Posted on Friday, February 19 2021 @ 9:42 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Kioxia logo
Kioxia (previously Toshiba Memory) and Western Digital announced the creation of their sixth-generation 3D flash memory technology. The joint-venture is now capable of making NAND flash memory chips with 162 layers.

By putting more layers on a flash memory chip, manufacturers can increase storage density and reduce costs. Compared with 112-layer technology, the new 162 layer chips offer a 40 percent reduction in die size and a 70 percent increase in manufactured bits per wafer. Read latency has been improved by 10 percent and I/O performance is 66 percent higher.
Kioxia Corporation and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), today announced that the companies have developed their sixth-generation, 162-layer 3D flash memory technology. Marking the next milestone in the companies’ 20-year joint-venture partnership, this is the companies’ highest density and most advanced 3D flash memory technology to date, utilizing a wide range of technology and manufacturing innovations. “T

“Through our strong partnership that has spanned two decades, Kioxia and Western Digital have successfully created unrivaled capabilities in manufacturing and R&D,” said Masaki Momodomi, Chief Technology Officer, Kioxia. “Together, we produce over 30 percent of the world’s flash memory bits and are steadfast in our mission to provide exceptional capacity, performance and reliability at a compelling cost. We each deliver this value proposition across a range of data-centric applications from personal electronics to data centers as well as emerging applications enabled by 5G networks, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.”

Beyond Vertical Scaling – New Architecture Leverages New Innovations
“As Moore’s Law reaches its physical limits across the semiconductor industry, there’s one place where Moore’s Law continues its relevancy — that’s in flash,” said Dr. Siva Sivaram, President of Technology & Strategy, Western Digital. “To continue these advances and meet the world’s growing data demands, a new approach to 3D flash memory scaling is critical. With this new generation, Kioxia and Western Digital are introducing innovations in vertical as well as lateral scaling to achieve greater capacity in a smaller die with fewer layers. This innovation ultimately delivers the performance, reliability and cost that customers need.”

This sixth-generation 3D flash memory features advanced architecture beyond conventional eight-stagger memory hole array and achieves up to 10 percent greater lateral cell array density compared to the fifth-generation technology. This lateral scaling advancement, in combination with 162 layers of stacked vertical memory, enables a 40 percent reduction in die size compared to the 112-layer stacking technology, optimizing cost.

The Kioxia and Western Digital teams also applied Circuit Under Array CMOS placement and four-plane operation, which together deliver nearly 2.4 times improvement in program performance and 10 percent improvement in read latency compared to the previous generation. I/O performance also improves by 66 percent, enabling the next-generation interface to support the ever-increasing need for faster transfer rates.

Overall, the new 3D flash memory technology reduces the cost per bit, as well as increases the manufactured bits per wafer by 70 percent, compared with the previous generation. Kioxia and Western Digital continue to drive innovation to ensure continued scaling to meet the needs of customers and their diverse applications.

The companies detailed the related innovations in a joint presentation at the ISSCC 2021 show earlier today.


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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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