Micron emphasizes that with Moore’s Law slowing, innovation in Micron’s 3D NAND products is critical to ensure that the industry can keep pace with increasing data requirements. To achieve this milestone, Micron has uniquely combined its stacked replacement gate architecture, new storage methods for charge sensing, and CuA (CMOS-under-array) technology.
The increased density of NAND flash memory is making it easier to produce higher capacity units at more affordable prices. With this in mind, Micron is already developing and supplying its first 176-layer NAND flash memory.
Micron begins shipping 176-layer NAND flash
Micron’s team of 3D NAND experts has also made rapid progress with the company’s patented CuA technology, building multi-layer stacks on-chip logic to accommodate more memory in a smaller space, and dramatically reducing the die size of 176 layers of NAND flash, resulting in higher GBs per wafer.
The 3D TLC memory seems to scale far better than the memories of its direct competitors like Samsung and Hynix. In addition, they claim to be faster and a bit denser, which is true in light of this announcement.
Previously, several manufacturers had already broken the 100-layer barrier, but none had been able to achieve these figures.
- Western Digital/Kioxia – 112 layers
- the 1xxL Samsung – 100+ layers
- SK Hynix – TLC – 128 layers
Due to the improvements in the layers, a higher working speed is also achieved. Previously, Micron’s 96- and 128-layer memories achieved speeds of 1,200 MTps, while the 176 layers can now reach speeds of 1,600 MTps via the ONFI interface. We also have a lower latency of 35%.
Micron also noted that the 128-layer module is only a transition node, as there are currently not many 128-layer modules on the market. This means that the company will rely heavily on the 176 layers.
The new Micron NAND flash is delivered with 512 Gb modules and stacked NAND packages with up to 16 cubes per package.
This should provide users with a higher capacity SSD.