Samsung is on the brink of begin mass manufacturing of its eighth Technology V-NAND reminiscence, which is able to characteristic over 200 layers and produce larger efficiency and bit densities for solid-state storage units.
Samsung was years forward of its rivals with its 24-layer V-NAND flash reminiscence in 2013, and it took different corporations fairly a while to catch up. However since then, the South Korean large has turn into a bit extra cautious because it has turn into more durable to construct NAND with a whole lot of layers. This yr Micron and SK Hynix beat Samsung to punch with their 232-layer and 238-layer 3D TLC NAND units. However the V-NAND developer shouldn’t be standing nonetheless and is on the brink of begin quantity manufacturing of 3D NAND reminiscence (which shall be branded V-NAND, after all) with 236 layers, stories Enterprise Korea (opens in new tab).
Samsung produced the first samples of its V-NAND reminiscence with over 200-layers in mid-2021, so it ought to now have sufficient know-how expertise to provoke quantity manufacturing of such units. Sadly, at this level, it’s exhausting to inform the capability of Samsung’s upcoming eighth Technology V-NAND chips. Nonetheless, we’re positive that one of many firm’s objectives with its next-generation NAND reminiscence shall be sooner interface speeds and different efficiency traits to allow next-generation greatest SSDs.
To construct aggressive solid-state storage options for upcoming desktops and laptops with a PCIe Gen5 interface and smartphones supporting UFS 3.1 and 4.0 interfaces,  Samsung wants NAND units with a high-speed interface. At present’s Samsung’s V7-NAND already options interface speeds of as much as 2.0 GT/s, however we anticipate the corporate to extend interface velocity with its V8-NAND additional.
One other factor to anticipate from Samsung’s eighth Technology V-NAND is elevated program block dimension and decreased learn latency, which optimizes the efficiency of high-capacity 3D NAND units. However sadly, the precise traits are unknown.
Whereas an elevated variety of NAND layers is usually thought of a simple approach of flash reminiscence scaling, it isn’t. Making NAND layers thinner (and due to this fact NAND cells small) entails utilizing new supplies to retailer expenses reliably. Moreover, since it’s difficult (and possibly not possible economically) to etch a whole lot of layers, 3D NAND makers must undertake strategies like string stacking to construct 3D NAND with a whole lot of layers. Samsung has not but adopted string stacking with its 176-layer V7-NAND, but it surely stays to be seen whether or not the know-how shall be used for 236-layer V8-NAND.
