SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co has started production of NAND flash devices with four gigabit capacity, using the latest 70-nanometer process technology, the company announced. The technology facilitates production of the smallest memory cell ever designed. The SLC (single level cells), as the device is called, measures 0.025 square micrometers, or 1/314,000 of a grown person’s hair.
The device -- 70nm 4Gb NAND flash -- captures data at 16 megabytes per second, almost 50 per cent higher than the existing 90nm 2Gb device, meaning data, including high definition video images can be stored in real time.
The Korean electronics major, the world's largest maker of dynamic random access memory chips, also started a 300 mm wafer production line ahead of schedule. This unit will later be used exclusively for flash memory. It will have an initial capacity of 4000 wafers per month which will be increased to 15,000 per month later. The new 4 GB 70-nanometer devices will roll out from next month.
The company said 300 mm wafers have higher productivity properties compared with 200 mm wafers. The 70-nanometer technology has a 65 per cent advantage over 90-nanometer technology.
NAND flash devices have important applications -- they are the ideal digital storage media for mobile devices like phones, camera phones and the like. The market for these devices is estimated at around $8 billion in 2005, which is expected to grow to $13 billion by 2008. Market research firm Gartner estimates that 4 GB NAND flash devices will account for more than 30 per cent of the total sales in 2005. Samsung Electronics had a 54 per cent share of the NAND flash market in 2004.
