3D flash memory is “a major leap” in scaling and wafer bonding technology
Kioxia Europe and Western Digital have announced a 3D flash memory which the partners describe as “groundbreaking” architecture in scaling and wafer bonding technology and which can “deliver a major leap in performance, density and cost effectiveness”.
The 218-layer 3D flash memory leverages 1Tb triple-level-cell (TLC) and quad-level-cell (QLC) with four planes and features lateral shrink technology to increase bit density by over 50 per cent. Its high-speed NAND I/O at over 3.2Gbits per second. This is a 60 per cent improvement over the previous generation, combined with a 20 per cent write performance and read latency improvement, reported the companies.
The partners have applied advanced scaling and wafer bonding technologies, resulting in the 3D flash memory’s capacity, performance and reliability “at a compelling cost”. This opens up application potential to meet the needs of exponential data growth across a broad range of market segments.
“The new 3D flash memory demonstrates the benefits of our strong partnership with Kioxia,” said Alper Ilkbahar, senior vice president of technology and strategy at Western Digital. “By working with one common R&D roadmap and continued investment in R&D, we have been able to productise this fundamental technology ahead of schedule and deliver high performance, capital efficient solutions.”
The two companies have introduced several processes and architectures, enabling continued lateral scaling advancements at lower costs. This balance between vertical and lateral scaling produces greater capacity in a smaller die with fewer layers at an optimised cost.
The companies also developed groundbreaking CBA (CMOS directly bonded to array) technology, wherein each CMOS wafer and cell array wafer are manufactured separately in its optimised condition and then bonded together to deliver enhanced bit density and fast NAND I/O speed.
This engineering partnership has resulted in the eighth-generation BiCS FLASH with what is believed to be the industry’s highest bit density, said Masaki Momodomi, CTO at Kioxia. He confirmed that sample shipments for some customers have started. “By applying CBA technology and scaling innovations, we’ve advanced our portfolio of 3D flash memory technologies for use in a range of data-centric applications including smartphones, IoT devices and data centres,” he added.
