KIOXIA & Western Digital Announced Sixth-Gen, 162-Layer 3D Flash Memory

Today KIOXIA Corporation and Western Digital Corp announced that both companies have developed their sixth-generation, 162-layer 3D flash memory technology. This marks the highest density and most advanced 3D Flash memory for both companies. KIOXIA and Western Digital have partnered on various projects for over 20 years, this just being the latest development in their partnership.

Today KIOXIA Corporation and Western Digital Corp announced that both companies have developed their sixth-generation, 162-layer 3D flash memory technology. This marks the highest density and most advanced 3D Flash memory for both companies. KIOXIA and Western Digital have partnered on various projects for over 20 years, this just being the latest development in their partnership.

Getting into the nuts and bolts, the new sixth-generation 3D flash memory is said to feature advanced architecture that has moved beyond the conventional eight-stagger memory hole array. Both companies claim about a 10% greater lateral cell array density over the fifth-gen Flash. The lateral scaling combined with the 162 layers stacked vertically result in a 40% reduction in die size compared to 112-layer, which in turn can help optimize costs.

On the performance side, KIOXIA and Western Digital made some progress as well. The companies used Circuit Under Array CMOS placement and four-plane operation, which they state resulted in roughly 2.4 times better program performance and 10% improvement in read latency. For I/O, the companies state that they have seen a 66% improvement.

In a nutshell, the new 3D flash technology should reduce the cost per bit, increase bits per water by about 70%, and generate better performance. It will be interesting to see what new products either of them roll out with the new technology.

KIOXIA

Western Digital

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