A joint venture between Intel and Micron Technology is preparing to mass-produce a 32-gigabit memory chip featuring Intel’s multi-level cell memory technology. The new NAND chips to be manufactured by IM Flash Technologies will go up against similar products from rivals Samsung and Toshiba, beginning next year.
Developed and manufactured using low-power 34-nanometer technology, the industry’s only monolithic 32Gbit NAND chip fits into the industry’s standard 48-lead packaging and represents the smallest NAND geometry on the market, the companies said.
“We have made great strides in NAND process capability and are now in a leadership role with 34nm production,” said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s Memory Group. “The tiny 34nm, 32Gbit chip enables our customers to easily increase their NAND storage capacity for a number of consumer and computing products.”
Denser Storage
Less than the size of a thumbnail, IMFT’s 32Gbit chip is expected to cost-effectively enable high-density solid-state storage in small form factor applications such as digital cameras, personal music players, and digital camcorders. For example, a single 32Gbit chip could be used to store more than 2,000 high-resolution digital photos, more than a thousand music tracks, or about 20 hours of high-definition video.
The partners said the new chip also will enable the creation of more cost-effective solid-state drives for netbooks and other portable computing devices, dramatically increasing their current storage capacity. When stacked, the chips could even drive PC memory capacities beyond 256GB, they noted.
Unlike standard single-level cell products, IMFT’s flash-memory chip employs multiple levels per cell to enable more bits of information to be stored. The use of a denser storage method also means the chips will be cheaper to produce.
The chips will be manufactured on 300-millimeter wafers, each of which will produce approximately 1.6 terabytes. The partners say they expect to begin sampling…