Chinese flash memory maker claims breakthrough - QLC NAND matches endurance of TLC NAND

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New materials, error correction methods, and SSD controllers can do wonders.

Xtacking 3.0 promo image
(Image credit: YMTC)

Typically, the more charges a NAND flash cell can hold, the less durable it is in terms of program/erase cycles. But 3D NAND material innovations, advancements of NAND controllers, and error correction algorithms can significantly increase the number of P/E cycle a NAND flash cell can sustain. This is what happened with Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s X3-6070 3D QLC device that boasts the endurance of 3D TLC ICs, ITHome reports. 

YMTC's X3-6070 3D QLC NAND device belongs to the company's fourth Generation products and features 128 active layers as well as Xtacking 3.0 architecture with a 2400 MT/s interface. While 128 active layers do not seem like a record by today's standards, one of the key part about this 3D QLC NAND device is that the manufacturer claims rather significant endurance of 4,000 program/erase cycles for this IC. The fast interface supported by these devices makes them suitable for the best SSDs featuring a PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 interface. 

Back in the day, it was believed that 3D TLC NAND could sustain 1,000 to 3,000 P/E cycles, but advancements of materials, controllers, and ECC methods increased that number to 4,000 P/E cycles and beyond. 3D QLC NAND was originally thought to be capable of 100 to 1,000 P/E cycles, but all makers of memory increased that number, as well. YMTC is perhaps the only company to advertise that its 3D QLC NAND is as durable as 3D TLC NAND, other makers of flash memory are surely also making progress in this direction.

Without any doubt, 4,000 P/E cycles is a great achievement for YMTC's X3-6070 3D QLC NAND memory devices. It remains to be seen how competitive these flash memory ICs are considering the fact that they have 128 active layers, whereas YMTC's competitors offer QLC 3D NAND devices with 176 or more active layers. 

YMTC currently uses its X3-6070 3D QLC NAND memory for its PC41Q consumer-grade solid-state drive. This SSD boasts a sequential read/write speed of 5500 MB/s and a data retention period of one year at 30 degrees Celsius, which is on par with TLC solid-state drives. With endurance of 4,000 P/E cycles, Yangtze Memory is looking forward to use 3D QLC NAND flash for enterprise-grade storage devices.

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • usertests
    1. We don't believe you.
    2. How about we improve the endurance of TLC NAND instead?
    Reply
  • ThomasKinsley
    My MLC SSD has lasted 12 years and is still kicking. If QLC can last long it would be a net positive.
    Reply
  • _Shatta_AD_
    usertests said:
    1. We don't believe you.
    2. How about we improve the endurance of TLC NAND instead?
    How about you show us how to run a memory company and revolutionize the ssd industry? Actually no one cares about your paltry opinion.
    Improving the endurance of TLC NAND doesn’t move us towards higher capacity. You really wanna stick with 2TB mainstream NVMe drives for another 4 years? Somebody gotta make a move to improve QLC NAND. You can only stack them so high before other limitations come into play. Also, improving the endurance of QLC will in turn benefit TLC as well. So keep those irrational comments to yourself.
    Reply
  • usertests
    _Shatta_AD_ said:
    Also, improving the endurance of QLC will in turn benefit TLC as well.
    Yes, that was my point.

    QLC NAND will only ever improve capacity from TLC by 33%. So you get ~5 TB instead of 4 TB, wow big deal. Adding more layers will continue to be the primary way to improve capacity.
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    These numbers appear to be 6-10x what consumer drives warranty for on QLC, and 4x what the best enterprise QLC has achieved. I believe the P41 Solidigm drive has the best endurance at 400 cycles (e.g.1tb drive warranty is 400TBW). For enterprise QLC best I know of is also Solidigm, the D5-P5430 which does 1000+ cycles.

    China claiming this base nand doing 4k cycles... skeptical, I do wonder how much the base Solidigm chip is capable of as there is definitely some write amplification occurring alongside wear leveling, so either Solidigm is including spare capacity to account for that, or a lot of controller magic, and I expect the true NAND R/W cycles to be somewhat close to what the drive is warrantied for in terms of cycles (TBW/drive size ≈ NAND cycle spec). If YMTC has the goods, lets see it on product! But an endurance warranty from YMTC is a whole different can of worms as I would not expect the same warranty support as Solidigm or any of the other manufacturers here. Love to see the tech pushed and still hopeful for a PLC release someday.
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    usertests said:
    QLC NAND will only ever improve capacity from TLC by 33%. So you get ~5 TB instead of 4 TB, wow big deal. Adding more layers will continue to be the primary way to improve capacity.
    Giving 5 TB from 4 TB as an example is a puzzling choice (even with the squiggly line) since that is 25% (the same as a density increase from QLC to PLC).

    Comparing 4 TB to 3 TB is the accurate portrayal of a 33% increase. Both of those capacities exist as real products. Where has anyone even seen a 5 TB SSD?
    Reply
  • usertests
    Li Ken-un said:
    Giving 5 TB from 4 TB as an example is a puzzling choice (even with the squiggly line) since that is 25% (the same as a density increase from QLC to PLC).

    Comparing 4 TB to 3 TB is the accurate portrayal of a 33% increase. Both of those capacities exist as real products. Where has anyone even seen a 5 TB SSD?
    It's called rounding down. 3 TB is uncommon, most consumer lineups skip from 2 to 4.

    Any more China shills want to weigh in? Get your shots in.
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    usertests said:
    It's called rounding down. 3 TB is uncommon, most consumer lineups skip from 2 to 4.
    Wait what? There are zero 5 TB SSDs. That is about as uncommon as it can get. Among the numerical values you could have used, you chose one which had to be rounded (and with only one significant digit) rather than two clean integers. Seems a bit deceitful.

    usertests said:
    Any more China shills want to weigh in? Get your shots in.
    Okay. I’ll bite.

    Are you implying that any posts in this thread have been shilling? And if so, does the speaker of the facts detract from the veracity of the words? (see: the shill gambit)
    Reply
  • wbfox
    Running press releases from anyone is annoying enough. Running press releases from the country that has lied in most if not all of their press releases (using old TSMC stock, scraping off the intel logos, etc..) for the past few years is what a group with an agenda does.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    a data retention period of one year at 30 degrees Celsius, which is on par with TLC solid-state drives.
    Thanks for this detail. I'd point out that hard drives traditionally offer a retention period of 5 years or longer.
    Reply