Intel and Micron Technology have developed a new technology to expand the densities of the memory chips used in consumer storage devices such as flash cards and USB drives. Their joint-venture company, called IM Flash Technologies, has already begun sampling NAND memory chips capable of storing three bits of information per memory cell and it expects to begin mass-producing the devices in the fourth quarter.
A physical NAND array rated at 16GB has 16 billion cells in which information can be stored. However, IM Flash Technologies is now able to choose from among three different methods for storing data in each cell, according to Micron Strategic Marketing Director Kevin Kilbuck.
“With single-level cell, or SLC, the flash cell is storing one of two states — a zero or a one logically, while multi-level cell, or MLC, means two bits per cell, while three bits per cell (3bpc) means” information is stored using “one of eight logic states,” Kilbuck said. The advantage of 3bpc is that if “we take the same 16GB die and store three bits per cell, we would have a 48GB chip,” Kilbuck said.
Thanks To Apple
The development of 3bpc technology comes at a time when global sales of NAND-type flash memory are expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 41 percent, reaching $932.5 million in 2013, said iSuppli Senior Analyst Michael Yang. “Soaring sales of smartphones, combined with the increasing density of NAND flash in each handset, is causing sales of the memory in this area to boom,” Yang said.
The NAND flash makers can thank Apple’s iPhone for injecting new life into the memory market, Yang observed. “Furthermore, Apple plans to introduce the iPhone in China, possibly early next year,” which “will open up the market for the iPhone to a new potential audience of…