Samsung breaks 20nm barrier with new Flash chips

Samsung has announced the breaking of the barrier of 20nm Flash production with a new range of memory designed for SD cards.

The 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) Nand chips are a big step forward from last year's 30nm units, with the new process 50 per cent more productive. The chip's speed has been increased 30 per cent, reading at 20MB/s and writing at 10MB/s, and by the end of the year 4GB to 64GB SD units will be on the market.

"In just one year after initiating 30nm-class NAND production, Samsung has made available the next generation node 20nm-class NAND, which exceeds most customers requirements for high-performance, high-density NAND-based solutions, " said Mr. Soo-In Cho, president of Samsung's Memory Division.

"The new 20nm-class NAND is not only a significant step forward in process design, but we have incorporated advanced technologies into it to enable substantial performance innovation."

The expansion of the Flash market has driven a technological war among memory manufacturers. Intel and Micron's 25nm new chip technology, although designed more for larger solid state drives, may suffer as a result of Samsung's announcement.

However a Micron representative told V3.co.uk that Samsung's announcement leaves out many key details, such as the availability of controller units for device builders and whether the chips use industry-standard thin small-outline package (TSOP) units.

While global semiconductor sales continuing to fall demand for Flash remains strong, and companies are investing heavily in new manufacturing equipment to meet the expected growth in the market.