Toshiba Corporation today announced that the company has developed second generation 19nm process technology that it will apply to mass production of 2-bit-per-cell 64 gigabit NAND memory chips later this month.
Toshiba has used the new generation technology to develop the world’s smallest 2-bit –per-cell 64 gigabit NAND memory chips, with an area of only 94 square millimeters. Using a unique high speed writing method, the next generation chips can achieve a write speed of up to 25 megabytes a second – the world’s fastest class in 2-bit-per-cell chips.
Toshiba is also developing 3-bit-per-cell chips by using this process technology and aims to start mass production in the second quarter of this fiscal year. The company will initially introduce 3-bit, multi-level-cell products for smartphones and tablets by developing a controller compatible with eMMC, and will subsequently extend application to notebook PCs by developing a controller compliant with solid state drives (SSD).
NAND flash memory is an essential component of a diverse line-up of consumer products, including memory cards, smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs, and is increasingly deployed in enterprise products, including SSD for data centers.