SanDisk develops 32-annometer NAND flash technology

The breakthrough introduction is expected to quickly bring to market advanced technologies that will enable greater capacities and reduce manufacturing costs for products ranging from memory cards to Solid State Drives (SSD). The 32Gb X3 on 32nm technology is the smallest NAND flash memory die reported so far, able to fit into the fingernail-sized microSD memory card format that has enjoyed widespread adoption in mobile phones and other consumer electronics devices. The 32nm 32Gb X3 is the highest density microSD memory die in the world, SanDisk said, providing twice the capacity of a microSD chip on 43nm while still maintaining a similar die area. Advances in 32nm process technologies and in circuit design significantly contributed to a 113mm2 die-size while SanDisk’s patented All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture has been a key enabler to maintain a competitive X3 write performance.

SanDisk and Toshiba presented a joint paper on 32nm 32Gb X3 NAND flash memory at the 2009 International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), highlighting the technical advancements that made 32nm possible. Production for the 32nm 32Gb X3 is expected to begin in the second half of 2009.