Toshiba Starts World’s First Sample Shipment of 64-Layer 3D Flash Memory

TOKYO-Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today unveiled the latest generation of its BiCS FLASH™ three-dimensional (3D) flash memory with a stacked cell structure^*1, a 64-layer device that will be first^*2 in the world to start sample shipments today. The new device incorporates 3-bit-per-cell (triple-level cell, TLC) technology and achieves a 256-gigabit (32gigabytes) capacity, an advance that underscores the potential of Toshiba’s proprietary architecture. Toshiba continues to refine BiCS FLASH™, and the next milestone on the development roadmap is a 512-gigabit (64-gigabytes) device, also with 64 layers.

The new device succeeds the 48-layer BiCS FLASH™, and its leading-edge 64-layer stacking process realizes a 40% larger capacity per unit chip size than 48-layer stacking process, reduces the cost per bit, and increases the manufacturability of memory capacity per one silicon wafer. 64-layer BiCS FLASH™ can meet demanding performance specs, and the new device will be used in applications that include enterprise and consumer SSD, smartphones, tablets and memory cards.

Since announcing the world’s first^*3 prototype 3D flash memory technology in June 2007, Toshiba has continued to advance development. The company is actively promoting BiCS FLASH™ to meet demand for larger capacity with smaller size.

Toshiba will produce the new 64-layer BiCS FLASH™ in the New Fab 2 at Yokkaichi Operations, which was officially opened earlier this month, and mass production of 64-layer BiCS FLASH™ is scheduled to start in the first half of 2017.