Samsung Electronics Develops First 16-Gigabit NAND Memory Using 50-nm Technology for Sharp Jump in Mobile Storage CapacitySamsung Electronics Develops First 16-Gigabit NAND Memory

Samsung Electronics Develops First 16-Gigabit NAND Memory Using 50-nm Technology for Sharp Jump in Mobile Storage CapacitySamsung Electronics Develops First 16-Gigabit NAND Memory

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced that it has developed the world’s highest density NAND flash – a 16Gigabit (Gb) NAND memory device. The 16Gb NAND density was achieved with the industry's first use of 50-nanometer (nm) technology directly applicable to mass production processes and by using Samsung's proprietary 3D-transistor architecture. The 16Gb device holds 16.4 billion functional transistors, each measuring one two-thousandths the thickness of a piece of human hair.

The finer geometry substantially reduces the noise level between cells to enable continued migration of storage platforms. The new 16Gb memory device should accelerate further expansion of the NAND flash market across mobile and portable digital applications as an alternative to mini-HDDs (hard disk drives) and even HDDs for laptops.

The development of the 16Gb NAND flash comes at an opportune time as consumer electronic (CE) manufacturers are now considering the introduction of NAND-based storage to bolster performance and power consumption levels in new CE gadgets. Development of the 16Gb NAND flash memory makes it easier to store massive amounts of data on small portable devices. Availability of Samsung’s 16Gb NAND will allow mobile and portable application designers to use memory cards with densities up to 32-Gigabytes (GBs) by combining up to 16 such devices on a single card.