SANDISK DEVELOPS WORLD’S SMALLEST 128Gb NAND FLASH MEMORY CHIP
- Highest-capacity single die NAND flash memory chip extends
leadership in three-bit per cell technology
- Paper outlining achievement to be delivered at technical
conference
MILPITAS, Calif, Feb. 22, 2012 - SanDisk
Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage
solutions, today announced it has developed the world's smallest
128 gigabit (Gb)* NAND flash memory chip currently in production.
The semiconductor device can store 128 billion individual bits of
information on a single silicon die 170mm2 in size - a
little more than a quarter of an inch squared, or smaller than the
area covered by a U.S. penny.
The use of NAND flash memory in high
tech equipment like smartphones, tablets and solid state drives
(SSDs) allows advances in the full function, small form factor
devices that are highly valued by consumers. Shrinking the size of
NAND flash memory allows smaller, more powerful computing,
communications and consumer electronics devices to be built while
keeping costs low.
SanDisk built the 128Gb NAND flash
memory chip on the company's industry-leading 19 nanometer (nm)
process technology. A nanometer measures one-billionth of a meter,
meaning that 19nm circuit lines are so small that about 3,000 of
them could fit across the width of a human hair. The chip also
employs SanDisk's three-bit per cell (X3) technology that allows
the company to build NAND flash memory products with the ability to
read and write three bits of information in each memory cell.
At 19nm, SanDisk is deploying its ninth generation of
multi-level cell (MLC) NAND products and fifth generation of X3
technology. This combination of manufacturing and technical
expertise helps SanDisk pack more information into each memory cell
making it possible to create a smaller, denser NAND flash memory
chip.
"Building a 128Gb NAND flash memory chip with this level of
complexity is an incredible achievement," said Mehrdad Mofidi, vice
president, Memory Design. "This innovation allows SanDisk to
continue to be a leader in helping our customers deliver smaller,
more powerful products capable of doing more at lower cost."
In addition to reduced size, the 128Gb semiconductor device has
an industry-leading X3 write performance of 18 megabytes (MB)** per
second. This level of performance is achieved using SanDisk's
patented advanced all bit line (ABL) architecture and means that X3
technology could be extended to certain product categories that use
MLC NAND flash memory. A technical paper outlining the breakthrough
will be presented at the International Solid-State Circuits
Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco today.
The 128Gb NAND flash memory chip was developed jointly by teams
from SanDisk and Toshiba at SanDisk's Milpitas campus. The effort
was led by Yan Li, director of Memory Design at SanDisk. Products
based on the 128Gb three-bit per cell technology began shipping
late last year and have already started to ramp into high volume
production. SanDisk has also developed a derivative product based
on the success of the 128Gb chip - a 64Gb, X3 NAND flash memory
chip that is compatible with the industry-standard microSD™ format.
The company has also started to ramp production of this additional
chip technology.
NAND flash memory is the technology behind the high reliability,
small form factor storage solutions that SanDisk sells to OEM
customers for use in a wide variety of products such as
smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks. It is also the technology used
in products SanDisk sells through its retail channel in the form of
imaging and mobile cards, USB drives and mp3 players.
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash
memory storage solutions, from research and development, product
design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and
retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory
and storage system technologies have provided customers with new
and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product
portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used
in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital
media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB
flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market.
SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers
around the world.
SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500
company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.
For more information, visit www.sandisk.com
* 1 gigabit (Gb) = 1 billion bits. Some capacity not available
for data storage.
** Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon
host device. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes.
© 2012 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the
SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in
the United States and other countries. microSD is a trademark of
SD-3C, LLC. Other brand names mentioned herein are for
identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their
respective holder (s).
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including expectations for applications, features, production,
markets and customers that are based on our current expectations
and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these
forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause
these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among
others: the market demand for our products or the production of our
products may grow more slowly than our expectations, or our
products may not be available in the capacities that we expect or
may not perform as expected, and the other risks detailed from
time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and
reports, including but not limited to, our quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q and our annual report on Form 10-K. We do not intend to
update the information contained in this press release.