SK Hynix rolls out 72-layer NAND Flash

Article By : EE Times Asia

The 72-layer 3D NAND stacks 1.5 more cells than its predecessor, the 48-layer 3D, which is already in mass production.

South Korean company SK Hynix has released a 72-layer 256GB 3D NAND Flash based on its triple-level cell (TLC) arrays and own technologies.

The 72-layer 3D NAND stacks 1.5 more cells than its predecessor, the 48-layer 3D, which is already in mass production. A single 256GB NAND Flash chip can represent 32GB storage, according to the company.

SK Hynix launched 36-Layer 128GB 3D NAND chips in April 2016, and has been mass producing 48-Layer 256GB 3D NAND chips since November 2016.

The technological achievement of SK Hynix's 72-layer 256GB 3D NAND compares figuratively to the difficulty of approximately 4 billion 72-storied skyscrapers on a dime, according to the company. By also bringing high-speed circuit design into the new chip, the 72-layer's internal operation speed is two times faster and read/write performance is 20% higher than a 48-layer 3D NAND chip.

With the new 72-Layer 3D NAND chips, SK Hynix has been currently developing NAND Flash solutions such as SSD and storage for mobile devices. With the improved performance, high reliability and low power consumption, the company looks forward to solidifying its business competence in the 3D NAND memory solutions.

Demand for 3D NAND is expected to rapidly increase across artificial intelligence, big data and cloud storage in the fourth industrial revolution. According to Gartner, NAND Flash market revenue is expected to total $46.5 billion in this year and post continuous growth to amount to $56.5 billion in 2021.