Samsung Introduces 16 GB Flash Memory Chip

Samsung Introduces 16 GB Flash Memory Chip


Samsung the world's largest memory manufacturer has begun manufacturing the world's first 16 GB NAND flash memory chip. This is the highest capacity memory chip that is currently available and makes Samsung the only company with the ability to mass manufacture it currently. This new chip has been sampled on a 51nm process which itself is a major breakthrough. By utilizing a 51nm process, the production process for these new chips is as much as 60 percent more efficient.

"In rolling out the densest NAND flash in the world, we are throwing open the gates to a much wider playing field for flash-driven consumer electronics," said Jim Elliott, director, flash marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. "To minimize production costs and improve performance, we have applied the finest process technology a 'half generation' ahead of the industry, which is introducing 55nm and higher."

Apart from the new mega-capacity of the chip, the new manufacturing process has allowed Samsung to boost the read/write performance of the chip by as much as 80 percent. The new chip has a read speed of around 30 MB/s and write speed of 8 Mb/s as compared to the previous speeds of 17 Mb/s and 4.4 MB/s that were achieved on the 60nm chips.