In a press launch despatched out this week, SK Hynix introduced that it has began sampling the corporate’s long-awaited 1 Tb 96-layer QLC NAND flash reminiscence The new 1 Tb chip will allow SSD makers to construct even greater capability drives, benefiting from QLC’s greater bit density to convey down storage prices. Silicon Motion has already began growth of turn-key SSDs that includes the brand new sort of reminiscence, whereas SK Hynix itself is working by itself datacenter drives based mostly on QLC. SSDs utilizing the brand new gadgets will likely be accessible someday subsequent yr.
SK Hynix’s 1 Tb 3D QLC is predicated on cost entice flash (CTF) design with a peripheral circuits underneath cells (PUC) structure that locations logic (tackle decoding, web page buffers, and so forth.) underneath the reminiscence layers to cut back the reminiscence’s die measurement. The producer says that utilization of this structure enabled it to cut back die space of the chip by over 10% when in comparison with competing 1 Tb 3D QLC NAND gadgets. Officially, SK Hynix calls its CTF + PUC NAND “4D NAND”.
Like different SK Hynix 3D-V5 gadgets, the 1 Tb 3D QLC chip makes use of a 1.2 Gbps Toggle 3.zero I/O interface, which is quicker than SK Hynix’s 72L 3D-V4 era merchandise. Meanwhile the chip additionally contains a 64 KB web page measurement (the smallest space of the flash reminiscence that may be written in a single operation) and an 18 MB block measurement (the smallest space of the flash reminiscence that may be erased in a single operation), which can additional velocity up efficiency of the brand new 3D-V5 gadgets in comparison with its predecessors. Finally, the reminiscence gadget makes use of a quad-plane structure.
Silicon Motion says that samples of SK Hynix’s 1 Tb 3D QLC NAND gadget met shopper SSD product necessities and that the corporate was “impressed” by the NAND’s efficiency, which is a robust indicator that SMI’s work on a platform that includes the mentioned flash reminiscence is properly underway
SK Hynix itself can be creating its personal enterprise-grade SSDs based mostly on 3D QLC NAND in addition to an in-house designed controller/firmware. The firm is not offering extra particulars, however expects to launch these drives generally subsequent yr. SK Hynix believes that its eSSDs powered by 3D QLC NAND will compete towards high-capacity HDDs in datacenters.
“We plan to launch our own QLC-based SSD from next year when demand for enterprise QLC NAND is expected to become meaningful,” mentioned Han Joo Na, SK Hynix VP and head of NAND growth technique workplace. “In particular, we intend to establish a solid position in the market for high-density eSSD, which is replacing hard disk drives (HDD), with NAND Flash solutions as large as 16TB (terabytes) or larger.”
