Samsung Begins Mass Producing of 256Gb 3D V-NAND Flash Memory

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has begun mass producing the industry’s first 256Gb 3D V-NAND flash memory based on 48 layers of 3-bit MLC arrays for use in SSDs.

“With the introduction of our 3rd generation V-NAND flash memory to the global market, we can now provide the best advanced memory solutions, with even higher efficiency based on improved performance, power utilization and manufacturing productivity, thereby accelerating growth of the high-performance and the high-density SSD markets,” said Young-Hyun Jun, president, memory business, Samsung Electronics. “By making full use of Samsung V-NAND’s excellent features, we will expand our premium-level business in the enterprise and data center market segments, as well as in the consumer market, while continuing to strengthen our strategic SSD focus.”

The 256Gb 3D V-NAND flash doubles the density of conventional 128Gb NANDflash chips. In addition to enabling 32GB of memory storage on a single die, the new chip will also double the capacity of Samsung’s existing SSD line-ups, and provide a solution for multi-terabyte SSDs.

The company introduced its 2nd generation V-NAND (32-layer 3-bit MLC V-NAND) chips in August 2014, and launched its 3rd generation V-NAND (48-layer 3-bit MLC V-NAND) chips in just one year, in continuing to lead the 3D memory era.

In this V-NAND chip, each cell utilizes the same 3D Charge Trap Flash (CTF) structure in which the cell arrays are stacked vertically to form a 48-storied mass that is electrically connected through some 1.8 billion channel holes punching through the arrays thanks to a special etching technology. In total, each chip contains over 85.3 billion cells. They each can store 3 bits of data, resulting 256 billion bits of data, in other words, 256Gb on a chip no larger than the tip of a finger.

A 48-layer 3-bit MLC 256Gb V-NAND flash chip delivers more than a 30% reduction in power compared to a 32-layer, 3-bit MLC, 128Gb V-NAND chip, when storing the same amount of data. During production, the new chip also achieves approximately 40% more productivity over its 32-layer predecessor, bringing much enhanced cost competitiveness to the SSD market, while mainly utilizing existing equipment.

The company plans to produce 3rd generation V-NAND throughout the remainder of 2015, to enable more accelerated adoption of terabyte-level SSDs. While introducing SSDs with densities of two terabytes and above for consumers, the company also plans to increase its high-density SSD sales for the enterprise and data center storage markets with PCIe NVMe and SAS interfaces.