Intel and Micron's joint NAND flash joint venture, IMFT, has announced that it is sampling 20nm, 8GB MLC NAND devices. The news is important insofar as NAND chips are used in SSDs, smartphones, tablets and other consumer-electronics devices.
Smaller NAND chips decrease the board space required and therefore make it easier for customers to increase capacity in space-constrained chassis such as smartphones and tablets.
The 20nm, 8GB devices measure 118mm² compared to 167mm² for 25nm-based chips of the same capacity, though IMFT claims that a 30-40 per cent reduction in board space is possible with the new memory and associated packaging.
Reinforcing the smaller size angle, IMFT provides a rather useful comparison picture that details 34nm, 25nm, and 20nm MLC NAND chips of the same capacity.
Thinking of SSDs for a moment, IMFT's chips power the recently released Crucial C400 and OCZ Vertex 3 drives. While undeniably fast, 25nm NAND has lower write endurance than 34nm, but IMFT reckons that 20nm has "similar performance and endurance as the previous generation 25nm NAND technology." That's good news for the consumer.
The 20nm chips are expected to enter mass production in H2 2011, and IMFT also expects to unveil 20nm, 16GB devices at the same time. Interesting times in the solid-state memory market, but the hope is that smaller NAND chips will push down prices. Here's praying for £1 per GB in 2012.
