San Francisco, NFAPost: Demonstrating continued innovation, Kioxia Corporation and Western Digital Corp announced details of their newest 3D flash memory technology.
Applying advanced scaling and wafer bonding technologies, the 3D flash memory delivers exceptional capacity, performance and reliability at a compelling cost, which makes it ideal for meeting the needs of exponential data growth across a broad range of market segments.
Western Digital Senior Vice President of Technology & Strategy Alper Ilkbahar said the new 3D flash memory demonstrates the benefits of both companies strong partnership with Kioxia and combined innovation leadership.
“By working with one common R&D roadmap and continued investment in R&D, we have been able to productize this fundamental technology ahead of schedule and deliver high-performance, capital-efficient solutions,” said Western Digital Senior Vice President of Technology & Strategy Alper Ilkbahar.
Kioxia and Western Digital reduced the cost by introducing several unique processes and architectures, enabling continued lateral scaling advancements. This balance between vertical and lateral scaling produces greater capacity in a smaller die with fewer layers at an optimized cost.
The companies also developed groundbreaking CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology, wherein each CMOS wafer and cell array wafer are manufactured separately in its optimized condition and then bonded together to deliver enhanced bit density and fast NAND I/O speed.
Kioxia Corporation Chief Technology Officer Masaki Momodomi said through unique engineering partnership, Kioxia Corporation and Western Digital have successfully launched the eighth-generation BiCS FLASH™ with the industry’s highest1 bit density.
“I am pleased that Kioxia’s sample shipments for limited customers have started. By applying CBA technology and scaling innovations, we’ve advanced our portfolio of 3D flash memory technologies for use in a range of data-centric applications including smartphones, IoT devices and data centers,” said Kioxia Corporation Chief Technology Officer Masaki Momodomi.
The 218-layer 3D flash leverages 1Tb triple-level-cell (TLC) and quad-level-cell (QLC) with four planes and features innovative lateral shrink technology to increase bit density by over 50 percent. Its high-speed NAND I/O at over 3.2Gb/s, a 60% improvement over the previous generation, combined with a 20% write performance and read latency improvement, will accelerate overall performance and usability for users.
About Kioxia
Kioxia is a world leader in memory solutions, dedicated to the development, production and sale of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). In April 2017, its predecessor Toshiba Memory was spun off from Toshiba Corporation, the company that invented NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia is committed to uplifting the world with memory by offering products, services and systems that create choice for customers and memory-based value for society. Kioxia’s innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH™, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive and data centers.
About Western Digital
Western Digital is on a mission to unlock the potential of data by harnessing the possibility to use it. With Flash and HDD franchises, underpinned by advancements in memory technologies, we create breakthrough innovations and powerful data storage solutions that enable the world to actualise its aspirations. Core to its values, Western Digital recognizes the urgency to combat climate change and have committed to ambitious carbon reduction goals approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. Learn more about Western Digital and the Western Digital, SanDisk and WD® brands at www.westerndigital.com.
