Micron is now shipping the world's first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Micron anticipates the new 3D NAND will be utilized across a range of industries including autonomous vehicles, in-car infotainment systems and mobile storage as well as client / data center solid-state drives. Micron even offers a single-pass programming algorithm to make integration easier and shorten the time it takes to get a product into market.

Micron this week announced that it has commenced volume shipments of the world’s first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory.

The American memory specialist said its new layer count is nearly 40 percent higher than their nearest competitor’s and is the most technologically advanced NAND node in the market. Compared to Micron’s own previous generation 3D NAND, this new 176-layer flash memory improves read and write latency by more than 35 percent, which goes a long way in accelerating overall application performance.

It also features a roughly 30 percent smaller die size than best-in-class competitor solutions, making it ideal for use where physical real estate is at a premium.

Micron said its 176-layer 3D NAND is currently in production at its fab in Singapore and is actively shipping to customers. It’ll also be included in new Crucial-branded consumer SSDs, we’re told.

The memory maker is planning to introduce more new products based on the technology in 2021.

Thumbnail courtesy Remus Rigo

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87543-micron-now-shipping-world-first-176-layer-3d.html

 

[adramtech]

Nice to see Idaho-based Micron take the first crack at 176layer NAND. Impressive.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Keep on squashing prices down. The consoles are in desperate need of more storage and they are brand new

 

[Aryassen]

Well, that is a lot of layers for sure (how did they end up with that number?), however, the latency improvement is equally impressive (and in my book, much more important), while the smaller die footprint is just the icing on the (layered) cake.
Also happy to see the expression "volume shipping" - hopefully this means real availability, and we will see them in actual consumer products soon. Bring it on!

 

[Endymio]

One slight error in the article:

"Compared to Micron’s own previous generation 3D NAND, this new 176-layer flash memory improves read and write latency by more than 35 percent..."

The 35% comparison is to Micron's 96-layer node, which is two generations back. Micron's immediately prior generation is 128 layers, which this one beats by 25%.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

So, what capacities of SSD are we looking at here? They have 4TB in the SATA 2.5" category. What will this allow in the same space..up to 7 to 8 TB capacities as a quick estimate.

 

[adramtech]

Well, that is a lot of layers for sure (how did they end up with that number?), however, the latency improvement is equally impressive (and in my book, much more important), while the smaller die footprint is just the icing on the (layered) cake.
Also happy to see the expression "volume shipping" - hopefully this means real availability, and we will see them in actual consumer products soon. Bring it on!

I read it was two 88 layer die stacked to get to 176.