Monday, April 19th 2010
Samsung Producing Industry’s First Higher-performing 20nm-class NAND Flash Memory
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced the industry's first production of 20 nanometer (nm) class NAND chips for use in Secure Digital (SD) memory cards and embedded memory solutions. Based on this cutting-edge technology, the introduction of 32 gigabit (Gb) MLC NAND will expand the company's memory card solutions for smart phones, high-end IT applications and high-performance memory cards.
Mr. Soo-In Cho, president, Memory Division, Samsung Electronics, said "In just one year after initiating 30nm-class NAND production, Samsung has made available the next generation node 20nm-class NAND, which exceeds most customers requirements for high-performance, high-density NAND-based solutions." He added, "The new 20nm-class NAND is not only a significant step forward in process design, but we have incorporated advanced technologies into it to enable substantial performance innovation."
Samsung's 20nm-class MLC NAND has a 50 percent higher productivity level than 30nm-class MLC NAND. The write performance of a 20nm-class-based, eight gigabyte (GB) and higher density, SD card is 30 percent faster than the 30nm-class NAND and it delivers a speed-class rating of 10 (read speed of 20MB/s, write speed of 10MB/s). By applying cutting-edge process, design and controller technology, Samsung also has secured reliability levels comparable to 30nm-class NAND.
Samsung Electronics first began producing 32Gb NAND with 30nm-class process technology in March 2009. Now it is shipping SD card samples to customers that are built with 20nm-class 32Gb NAND and will expand production later this year. Memory cards based in the 20nm-class will be available from 4GB through 64GB densities.
Samsung's timely introduction of its high-performance premium NAND will better support the growing memory requirements of high-density smartphones, high-end IT applications and high-performance memory cards.
Mr. Soo-In Cho, president, Memory Division, Samsung Electronics, said "In just one year after initiating 30nm-class NAND production, Samsung has made available the next generation node 20nm-class NAND, which exceeds most customers requirements for high-performance, high-density NAND-based solutions." He added, "The new 20nm-class NAND is not only a significant step forward in process design, but we have incorporated advanced technologies into it to enable substantial performance innovation."
Samsung Electronics first began producing 32Gb NAND with 30nm-class process technology in March 2009. Now it is shipping SD card samples to customers that are built with 20nm-class 32Gb NAND and will expand production later this year. Memory cards based in the 20nm-class will be available from 4GB through 64GB densities.
Samsung's timely introduction of its high-performance premium NAND will better support the growing memory requirements of high-density smartphones, high-end IT applications and high-performance memory cards.
6 Comments on Samsung Producing Industry’s First Higher-performing 20nm-class NAND Flash Memory
All four companies (Intel-Micron, Samsung, Toshiba, Hynix) should have ~25nm (or less) chips in products the middle of next year. That's awesome, and should lead to a price war. With Sandforce's controller (amongst any others that may show up or be improved) and at least one company producing higher density chips than Intel, competition should be nigh.
Remember though, while drives comparable to a Kingston 64GB v-drive (that use the older chips) will be cheaper because of this, they will also be (approx.) 75% the writing speed because of using half of them, if we use the 1.5x claim. 128GB drives will be faster than the 64GB drives were, and cheaper than the former 128GB drives, but slower than them as well. So is the game of SSDs. 40/32GB currently sucks because of this, where 64/80GB the trade off is better. Next-gen the game will edge closer to 128-160, or as Sandforce drives allow, 100GB. Is Intel going to call their 160GB drive 150 like the 320/640 seem to be called 300/600GB? At any rate...
Yes, the inevitable flood of ~$200 100-160GB drives is going to be fun to watch. A couple of those in RAID 0 on a SATA3 setup will be a thing of jealousy with jaw-dropping read speeds. I just look forward to the NEXT (next) gen when the smaller drives such as those should be affordable (~$100?) with speeds that outpace those currently with the same capacity, but triple/quadruple the price. It's not TOO far off...
/Long post.