Micron Introduces Industry's Smallest 128-Gigabit NAND Flash Device

[btarunr]

Micron Technology, Inc. today introduced the industry's smallest 128-gigabit (Gb) NAND flash memory device utilizing its award-winning 20-nanometer (nm) process technology. The new 128Gb device stores three bits of information per cell, called triple-level-cell (TLC), creating a highly compact storage solution.

Measuring 146 mm², the new 128Gb TLC device is more than 25 percent smaller than the same capacity of Micron's 20 nm multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND device. The 128 Gb TLC device is targeted at the cost-competitive removable storage market (flash cards and USB drives), which is projected to consume 35 percent of total NAND gigabytes in calendar 2013.1 Micron is now sampling the 128Gb TLC NAND device with select customers; it will be in production in calendar Q2.

"This is the industry's smallest, highest-capacity NAND flash memory device-empowering a new class of consumer storage applications," said Glen Hawk, vice president of Micron's NAND Solutions Group. "Every day we learn of new and innovative use cases for flash storage, underpinning the excitement and opportunity for Micron. We are committed to enriching our portfolio of leading Flash storage solutions that serve our broad customer base."

Micron is presenting a paper on the 128Gb TLC NAND device at the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on Feb. 19 at 3:15 p.m. PST, in San Francisco, California.

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[Jorge]

Not impresssed so far with TLC. This might be useful for portable devices if it is reliable.

 

[Disparia]

I will be impressed if it leads to 1TB and 2TB being common sizes for SSDs.

 

[Aquinus]

I will be impressed if we start seeing 2TB SSDs.

+1: I would like to see 512Gb - 1Tb get cheaper more than seeing larger SSDs, though.

Not impresssed so far with TLC. This might be useful for portable devices if it is reliable.

I would be willing to sacrifice speed for a larger drive but the price has to be right, the size has to be competitive, and reliability has to be proven.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

I will be impressed if it leads to 1TB and 2TB being common sizes for SSDs.

+1: I would like to see 512Gb - 1Tb get cheaper more than seeing larger SSDs, though.



I would be willing to sacrifice speed for a larger drive but the price has to be right, the size has to be competitive, and reliability has to be proven.

It's getting there, 256GB SSD drives are already around 50p per GB (if you look hard enough) I bought 240GB SATA3 for £140, give it a year or 2 and 512GB will be easily affordable, 1TB will probably the same cost as 512GB now.

 

[Aquinus]

It's getting there, 256GB SSD drives are already around 50p per GB (if you look hard enough) I bought 240GB SATA3 for £140, give it a year or 2 and 512GB will be easily affordable, 1TB will probably the same cost as 512GB now.

The problem is that I can buy a WD Black 4TB drive for less or about the same as a 512Gb SSD. SSDs are nice but they're not practical for mass storage. If I could get a slower 1TB varient for less I would but SSDs keep getting faster and keeping a large price tag on them. I'll be satisfied when SSDs can compete (price and capacity) in the mass storage market.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

The problem is that I can buy a WD Black 4TB drive for less or about the same as a 512Gb SSD. SSDs are nice but they're not practical for mass storage. If I could get a slower 1TB varient for less I would but SSDs keep getting faster and keeping a large price tag on them. I'll be satisfied when SSDs can compete (price and capacity) in the mass storage market.

That's never going to happen, HDD's are older, slower and less reliable tech, no matter how much "you want it" they will always be cheaper than SSD's per GB, that said you can now get 4TB drives which you couldn't a year or 2 ago so as HDD's go up/cheaper then SSD capacity will also go up and get cheaper.

 

[Disparia]

That's why he was hoping for storage-oriented SSDs, ones that can be competitive with mechanical storage solutions.

I've seen TLC touted as the beginning of viable SSD storage (for businesses, home use would be viable at a later time). Slower than MLC and cheaper to produce so it will be forced into a lower price-point from the onset. If I was still at my previous job as a sys admin, would be very giddy with the possibilities.