On Tuesday Intel and Micron introduced a "world's first" with the announcement of a new 20-nm monolithic 128 gigabit (Gb) NAND device which doubles the storage capacity and performance of the duo's current 20-nm 64 Gb NAND offering. It was created through their joint-development venture IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) with the intent to cram more storage capacity into small form factor devices like smartphones, tablets, USB drives and SSDs.
According to the report, the new device has the capability of storing 1 terabit of data in a single fingertip-size package with just eight die. For consumers, a 128 Gb device translates to 16 GB of storage. Stack eight of these in a single package and you have a memory chip packing a meaty 128 GB of storage capacity.
The new device is also reportedly the first to use a planar cell structure that "breaks the scaling constraints of standard floating gate NAND" by integrating the first Hi-K/metal gate stack on NAND production. It even meets the high-speed ONFI 3.0 specification to achieve speeds of 333 megatransfers per second (MT/s).
"As portable devices get smaller and sleeker, and server demands increase, our customers look to Micron for innovative new storage technologies and system solutions that meet these challenges," said Glen Hawk, vice president of Micron's NAND Solutions Group. "Our collaboration with Intel continues to deliver leading NAND technologies and expertise that are critical to building those systems."
In addition to the 128 Gb NAND device, the duo also said that their 64 Gb 20-nm NAND has entered mass production, and should enable a rapid transition to the 128 Gb device in 2012. Samples of the 128 Gb device are expected to arrive in January 2012 followed by mass production in the first half of 2012.
