14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung, the South-Korean giant, has announced today the beginning of mass production for the NAND flash device with the highest density. This is a memory module with a 4GB capacity, based on a 70 nanometers technology.
The new module allows writing speeds of 16MB per second, which represents an improvement of 50% compared to the 8MB/sec of the 2GB model.
The 4GB module was developed for the first time in 2003, according to the model created by Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Business, regarding the increase in density: 256MB in 1999, 512MB in 2000, 1GB in 2001, 2GB in 2002, 4GB in 2003 si 8GB in 2004.
Samsung has also announced a replacement for the current hard disk solutions. The SDD system is based on a 2.5 inch structure with 16 NAND Flash memory modules with capacities of 4 or 8 GB of memory. At the end of this year, Samsung will also propose a SDD solution of 1.8 inch which will offer the same storing capacity.
It looks like Samsung is riding the wave these days, the company also being able to set up its new production line for 300 mm wafers a month early. Production Line 14 will manufacture for starters 4,000 units per month, and by the end of 2005 the targeted output is 15,000 units.
These new systems open a new era in mobile devices, which will benefit from significantly increased storage capacities.