Technology Roundup: NAND flash

NAND flash is fast becoming the dominant non-volatile memory solution for a variety of applications ranging from mobile devices to enterprise-level storage. As we hit the midway of the year, we thought it would be a good time to do a recap of some of the NAND flash overview articles we've posted on the Memory Designline.

Design Features
Flash memory 101: An Introduction to NAND flash
As the price of NAND flash tumbled, it became a viable replacement for a hard drive. Here's an introduction to the technology.

NAND 201: the continued evolution of NAND Flash
From the evolutionary changes of a continually shrinking NAND cell to the performance-enhancing innovations that support increasingly advanced designs, this follow-up article to “Flash memory 101” chronicles additional developments in NAND technology.

System design using NAND
As NAND cells shrink, fewer electrons are stored per floating gate. To compensate for the increasing bit error rates of these smaller geometry cells, error correcting code (ECC) requirements have to dramatically increase to maintain the desired system reliability.  

How to Achieve the Highest Data Rate in NAND Flash Application
Learn how to take full advantage of the latest features of the controllers and standards while avoiding the traps of the technology.

Building a NAND flash controller with high-level synthesis
An HLS tool improves design productivity since it reduces the effort on debug and verification. This article describes how the authors were able to apply a commercial HLS tool to a NAND flash controller with an error correction code (ECC) block.

A middle-1X nm NAND flash memory cell (M1X-NAND) with highly manufacturable integration technologies
New integration technologies overcome the scaling limits of mid-1x-nm technology to yield a highly manufacturable mid-1x-nm NAND flash memory.

News
Apple's iPad to dominate NAND use in tablets through 2015
Apple Inc.'s iPad accounts for nearly 80 percent of the NAND flash memory used in media tablets and is expected to continue to dominate worldwide demand for NAND in tablets through at least 2015, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.  

Tablet demand fuels NAND flash growth
Fueled by consumer products like smartphones, tablets, and now ultrabooks, the global NAND flash market should reach $22.9 billion this year, up 8% from 2011 levels, say analysts from IHS/iSuppli. Long term, the growth is expected to continue, with worldwide revenues reaching $30.9 billion by 2016.

Flash revenue expected to overtake DRAM in 2012
Sales of flash memory chips are expected to eclipse sales of DRAM for the first time in 2012, according to market research firm IC Insights Inc.

Products
Intel, Micron offer 128-Gbit NAND flash memory
Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. have announced the development of a 128-Gbit NAND flash memory made using an improved 20-nm manufacturing process technology for flash that includes high-K metal gate (HKMG) transistors.

Toshiba offers error-correcting NAND flash memory
LONDON – Toshiba has announced the development of BENAND, a form of single-level cell, NAND flash memory with embedded error correction code (ECC).

Spansion Unveils SLC NAND Flash Family and Five-Year Roadmap
Spansion Inc. (NYSE: CODE), a leading innovator in Flash memory solutions for embedded markets, today announced it has started sampling its first family of single-level cell (SLC) Spansion® NAND products using 4x nm floating-gate technology, targeted specifically for data storage in automotive, consumer and networking applications.


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