NAND flash memory chip size trends

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has added of the "NAND Flash Memory Chip Size Trend" report to its offering.

NAND Flash Memory Chip Size Trend provides actual and estimated NAND flash memory chip sizes and roadmaps for SLC, MLC, 3-bit per cell and 4-bit per cell technologies by density, process technology generation and vendor. The report covers NAND flash memory product densities from 512Mb to 64Gb for Intel-Micron Flash Technologies, Numonyx/Hynix, Samsung and SanDisk/Toshiba.

NAND flash memories have historically doubled densities every year with each new technology generation. This trend has been referred to “Hwang’s Law”, named after Hwang Chang-gyu, former President of Samsung Semiconductor who first coined the term. As NAND flash memory encounters scaling challenges, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain Hwang’s Law as chip sizes increase beyond 200mm².

SLC (Single-Level-Cell) and MLC (Multi-Level-Cell) or 2-bit per cell technologies are the current mainstream technologies. NAND flash manufacturers are adopting 3-bit per cell and 4-bit per cell technologies to reduce chip sizes and correspondingly, costs. Three-bit per cell and 4-bit per cell technologies are likely to garner the majority of the market in four years.