Toshiba, SanDisk Develops World’s First 256Gb 48-Layer BiCS NAND

Toshiba formally introduced its TLC BiCS 3D NAND memory only several months after it announced its MLC BiCS 3D NAND chips.

The company has been partnering with SanDisk to develop 3D NAND flash memory since last year, and the new chips could hit the streets in early 2016.

While the first samples of this new NAND will be shipped to manufacturers in September, it won’t be until mid-2016 that Toshiba and SanDisk will be ready for mass production. The high-capacity NAND flash uses 3-bit-per-cell (triple-level cell, TLC) technology.

Toshiba says the new chips could be used for solid state disks, smartphones, tablets, memory cards, and other devices that rely on flash storage.

SanDisk and Toshiba refer to the 3D Nand technology as Bit-Cost Scalable (BiCS) Nand, and Toshiba said it is now preparing for mass production at a new fabrication plant at Yokkaichi in Japan.

Sandisk released a separate statement concerning the development.

“Scott Nelson, senior vice president of Toshiba America Electronic Components’ memory business unit said: “[This announcement is] significant in that we are enabling a competitive, smooth migration to 3D flash memory – to support the storage market’s demand for ever-increasing densities”.

BiCS FLASH is based on a leading-edge 48-layer stacking process that surpasses the capacity of mainstream two dimensional NAND Flash memory while enhancing write/erase reliability endurance and boosting write speeds. Dr. Siva Sivaram, executive VP, memory technology, SanDisk wrote “This is the world’s first 256Gb X3 chip, developed using our industry-leading 48-layer BiCS technology and demonstrating SanDisk’s continued leadership in X3 technology”.