Toshiba to Ship 56-Nanometer NAND Flash Memories

Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba), reinforcing its leadership in the development and fabrication of powerful, high density NAND flash memory, today announced with Toshiba America Electronic Components, its subsidiary in the Americas, the introduction of 16 Gb(1) (2 gigabyte(2)) and 8Gb (1 gigabyte) NAND flash memory, fabricated with cutting-edge 56-nanometer (nm) process technology co-developed with SanDisk Corporation of Milpitas, Calif. The 16Gb is the highest density single-chip NAND flash memory yet achieved.

Advancing from limited production of engineering samples at the end of 2006, Toshiba is now increasing shipments of commercial samples of new 8Gb single-chip, multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memories, the current mainstream density, with availability from today. Toshiba intends to start shipping commercial samples of 16Gb NAND flash memories, in the late first quarter of this year.

The adoption of MLC technology and improved programming efficiency allows the new chips to offer high density and write performance. Application of 56nm process technology realizes 16Gb, twice the memory density per chip achieved with 8Gb 70nm technology, achieving the largest single-chip density in NAND flash memory. A write performance of 10-megabytes a second(3), twice that of Toshiba's present MLC products, reflects the efficiency obtained with advanced process technology and doubling page size (the amount of data that can be written at one time) from 2,112 bytes to 4,314 bytes.

By combining advanced process and MLC technologies, and through continued advances in production efficiency, Toshiba intends to enhance cost competitiveness and meet the needs of the NAND flash memory market.

Outline of New Products

Product Number Density Sample Shipment Start Mass Production

TC58NVG3D1DTG00 8 Gb January, 2007 January, 2007

TC58NVG4D1DTG00 16Gb Late Q1, 2007 Early Q2, 2007

Major Points of New Products

1) Adoption of cutting-edge 56nm process technology and of MLC technology

that increases memory cell density to 16Gb, twice the density per chip

against Toshiba NAND flash memories fabricated with 8Gb 70nm process

technology.

2) Advances in programming performance technology combine with the

efficiency of advanced process technology to achieve a write

performance of 10-megabytes a second, twice that of Toshiba's present

MLC NAND flash memories. The key advances are:

- One-time write page size is doubled from 2,112 bytes to 4,314

bytes.

- Adoption of a write-cache function that realizes a short write

cycle time by shortening data processing standby.

Major Specifications

Part Number TC58NVG3D1DTG00 TC58NVG4D1DTG00

Memory Size 8 Gb 16 Gb

Power Supply Vcc=2.7-3.6V

Page Size 4096+218 bytes

Programming Time 800 microseconds per page (typical)

Erase Time 2 milliseconds per block (typical)

Access Times 50 microseconds first access (maximum)

30 nanoseconds serial access (minimum)

Package 48-pin TSOP Type I

Exterior Dimensions 12 x 20 x 1.2mm

NAND Flash Background

Toshiba was a principal innovator of NAND- and NOR-type Flash memory technology in the 1980's and maintains leadership in Flash technology today, with a complete line of removable and embedded NAND solutions to meet various application requirements. NAND Flash has become one of the leading technologies for solid-state storage applications because of its high-speed programming capability, high-speed erasing, and low cost. The sequential nature (serial access) of NAND-based Flash memory provides notable advantages for these block-oriented data storage applications. Toshiba's NAND Flash memory products are optimized for general solid-state storage, image file storage and audio for applications such as solid-state disk drives, digital cameras, audio appliances, set-top boxes and industrial storage.

*About TAEC

Combining quality and flexibility with design engineering expertise, TAEC brings a breadth of advanced, next-generation technologies to its customers. This broad offering includes memory and flash memory-based storage solutions, a broad range of discrete devices, displays, medical tubes, ASICs, custom SOCs, microprocessors, microcontrollers and wireless components for the computing, wireless, networking, automotive and digital consumer markets.

TAEC is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba), Japan's largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world's fourth largest semiconductor manufacturer. In more than 130 years of operation, Toshiba has recorded numerous firsts and made many valuable contributions to technology and society. For additional company and product information, please visit TAEC's website at chips.toshiba.com. For technical inquiries, please e-mail Tech.Questions@taec.toshiba.com.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications. In developing designs, please ensure that Toshiba products are used within specified operating ranges as set forth in the most recent Toshiba product specifications and the information set forth in Toshiba's "Handling Guide for Semiconductor Devices," or "Toshiba Semiconductor Reliability Handbook." This information is available at http://www.chips.toshiba.com, or from your TAEC representative.

All trademarks and tradenames held within are the properties of their respective holders.

MEMY 07 460

(1) When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabit and/or Gb

means 1,024x1,024x1,024 = 1,073,741,824 bits. Usable capacity may

be less. For details, please refer to specifications.

(2) 2 When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabyte and/or GB

means 1,024x1,024x1,024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Usable capacity may

be less. For details, please refer to specifications.

(3) Read and write speed may vary depending on the read and write

conditions, such as devices you use and file sizes you read and/or

write. (For purposes of measuring write speed in this context,

1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes).

Author:  

Email:    

Topic:    

Content: