Semiconductor Insights Recognizes Toshiba with 2005 INSIGHT Award for Most Innovative Non-Volatile Memory

Semiconductor Insights Recognizes Toshiba with 2005 INSIGHT Award for Most Innovative Non-Volatile Memory

Semiconductor Insights (SI), the leader in technical and patent analyses of integrated circuits and structures, announced that it has awarded Toshiba's 4Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash in 90nm process the 2005 INSIGHT Award for Most Innovative Non-Volatile Memory.

The Toshiba device is the first 4Gb monolithic flash seen by SI, and arguably the only one in the market. “Toshiba has really surpassed itself by producing the first single chip, 4Gb flash device,” said Edward Keyes, Vice President and CTO for SI. “Equally impressive is their use of two bits per cell technology at the leading edge 90nm technology node. Normal practice for MLC vendors is to hedge their bets and hold back one generation.”

Keys to the flash market are density, cost, and read/write performance. There are two rival flash technologies – NAND and NOR. NAND offers large storage capacity at a cost effective price, while NOR delivers high-speed code execution. The battle for market dominance between NAND and NOR hinges on the evolving and converging mobile device market which is seeking solutions with advantages from both technologies.