SK Hyinx Publishes Details On 300 Layer 3D NAND Technology.
SK Hyinx recently published details about their new 8-Th gen 3D NAND technology. This new generation of 3D NAND will enable the company to increase the performance of their SSD’s and lower the overall per terabyte costs when it arrives sometime in 2024- 2025.
The initial 8-th gen 3d NAND devices will 300+ layers will come with a 1Tb capacity with triple level cells and a bit density of over 20GB/mm2 the chip features a 16Kb page size, four planes, a 2400 MT/s (Mega transfers per second) and a maximum throughput of 194Mb’s (Which is 18% higher than SK Hyinx’s 7-th gen 238-layer 3D NAND). This higher throughput will be particularly beneficial for PCIe 5.0 SSD’s.
With SK Hyinx nearly doubling the density of their new NAND, as compared to the current generation, it will significantly increase ethe per-wafer productivity of the new manufacturing node, which will lower manufacturing costs – we are unsure how significantly this will impact costs.
In order to improve the design, SK Hyinx implemented five new schemes:
A Triple-Verify Program (TPGM) feature which narrows cell threshold voltage and reduces program time by 10%. This leads to an increase in performance.
Adaptive Unselected String Pre-Charge (ASUP). This is another procedure to reduce the program time by about 2%.
All-Pass Rising (APR) scheme that reduces the read time by about 2% and cuts word line rising time.
Programmed Dummy String (PDS). This Technique cuts world line settling time for program time and read time by reducing channel capacitance load.
Plane-Level Read Retry (PLRR). This makes the drive capable of changing the real level of a plane without terminating others. This issues subsequent read command immediately and improves the quality of service and read performance.
SK Hyinx didn’t disclose when exactly they intend to start producing their shiny new 8-th gen chips. However, the company has disclosed details about this technology, which would indicate development has been completed or is close to being completed. In the meantime, other flash memory manufactures are tending to slow down the adoption of newer manufacturing nodes to limit NAND bit output, so it’s unlikely SK Hyinx will rush to roll out their 8th gen 3D NAND to production. It’s Probably best to assume the memory will only hit the market in 2024.
