Intel and Micron have announced they are working together on the production of 3D NAND memory chips. The stackable 3D memory will allow for the production of ultra-fast flash memory at extremely high densities.
The 3D NAND 2.5” SSDs have actually entered production and samples are being sent to manufacturers. The key benefit of this 3D storage is a tripling of the capacity of current NAND technologies, opening the door for 10TB+ 2.5 inch solid state drives.
The technology uses floating gate cells in order to triple the density of storage drives, opening up the door for 10TB 2.5" SSDs and 3.5TB gum stick-sized flash storage. Floating gate cells involves the stacking of up to 32 layers of cells vertically, capable of a maximum of 384Gb per individual stack. Intel claims the enhanced storage outpaces Moore's Law and will result in the lowering of the cost-per-gigabyte for solid state drive users.
"Micron and Intel's collaboration has created an industry-leading solid-state storage technology that offers high density, performance and efficiency and is unmatched by any flash today," said Brian Shirley, vice president of Memory Technology and Solutions at Micron Technology. "This 3D NAND technology has the potential to create fundamental market shifts. The depth of the impact that flash has had to date—from smartphones to flash-optimized supercomputing—is really just scratching the surface of what's possible."
Full-scale production will begin in Q4 2015, with the first 3D NAND SSDs from Intel and Micron expected to crop up in early 2016, roughly a year from now. Excited by the rapid growth of high-speed storage? Could this been the technology we need to leave hard drives behind for good?
Intel and Micron say that 256Gb MLC flash based on its 3D NAND technology has already started sampling, with a 384Gb TLC version beginning sampling later in the spring. The companies claim that devices using these modules will be produced by the fourth quarter, with individual SSD drives making use of the technology appearing sometime in the next year.
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