Toshiba announced today that it has successfully developed the world’s first 4-bit 3D flash memory (QLC), which is expected to bring lower manufacturing costs and higher storage density. Flash memory stores data (given “0” or “1” or 1-bit) through a string of charged floating gate transistors, which can be arranged in two-dimensional (planar NAND) or three-dimensional (3D NAND) stacks , and then use more charge values to store more bits of information. For example, four-level (2-bit) flash memory is called MLC, and eight-level (3-bit) is called TLC.
The QLC is further upgraded to 16 levels (4-bit), which can be divided into 16 cells per grid, thus realizing larger storage capacity. Once upon a time, it was difficult for the industry to break through the precise charge distinction required by TLC. But the latest development is that Toshiba has developed 64-layer stacked QLC 3D NAND.
This approach increases the core storage capacity to 768 gigabits, a significant improvement over TLC’s 512 gigabits. Toshiba said that the new QLC core can be stacked 16, thus achieving a storage capacity of 1.5TB.
Toshiba is reported to have started shipping 3D QLC NAND samples to manufacturers for evaluation earlier this month. As for when it will enter the consumer market, it is currently unknown.
The Links: 6DI75MB-050 CM100TU-12F