Next Generation BiCS Flash Reaches New Heights
KIOXIA Corporation (formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation) announced that it will begin sampling the fifth generation of its BiCS 3D NAND flash technology for select applications in Q1 2020. Developed in partnership with Western Digital, the new flash features 112-layer 3D stacked dies with approximately 20% higher cell array density versus the previous generation 96-layer BiCS flash. Currently, Kioxia is using 112-layer stacking to deliver 512 Gb (64GB) dies using 3 bits per cell TLC technology. In the future, Kioxia plans to utilize BiCS5 to offer 1Tb (128GB) TLC dies and 1.33Tb QLC dies. The 3D NAND chips will be used in mobile devices, consumer and enterprise solid state drives, and in hardware enabling emerging AI, autonomous driving, and 5G networking applications.
The 5th Generation BiCS flash takes advantage of advanced circuity and manufacturing technologies along with additional stacked layers to reduce cost per bit and increase capacity per water. The new flash also has performance advantages with interface speed improved by 50%, faster programming, and lower read latency.
Kioxia will manufacture its 5th Generation BiCS flash at its Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants in Japan.
"Since announcing the world’s first*2 prototype 3D flash memory technology in 2007, Kioxia has continued to advance development of 3D flash memory and is actively promoting BiCS FLASH™ to meet the demand for larger capacities with smaller die sizes."
