32TB SAS SSD by Samsung, Record Capacity in 2.5-Inch Form Factor

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., introduced next-generation flash memory solutions that will meet the increasing demands of big data networks, cloud computing and real-time analysis.

At Flash Memory Summit 2016, the company showcased its 4th generation Vertical NAND (V-NAND) and a line-up of high-performance, high-capacity SSDs available for its enterprise customers as well as Z-SSD, a new solution providing performance for flash-based storage.

“With our 4th generation V-NAND technology, we can provide differentiated values in high-capacity, high-performance and compact product dimensions, which together will contribute to our customers achieving better TCO results,” said Young-Hyun Jun, president of memory business, Samsung. “We will continue to introduce more advanced V-NAND solutions and expand our flash business initiatives in maximizing an unbeatable combination of performance and value.”

Samsung’s 4th gen V-NAND stacks 30% more layers of cell-arrays
than its predecessor
Samsung introduced its 4th generation, 64-layer triple-level-cell V-NAND flash memory that pushes the envelope of NAND scaling, performance and storage capacity. Stacking 64 layers of cell-arrays, the new V-NAND can increase its single-die density to 512Gb and its IO speed to 800Mb/s, which further distinguishes Samsung’s technology leadership in three-dimensional NAND cell structure design and production.

Starting in August 2013, Samsung has previously introduced three generations of V-NAND products with 24, 32 and 48-layer vertical cell-array stacking technologies.

Samsung plans to provide the first 4th generation V-NAND flash memory products in the fourth quarter of this year, which will help manufacturers to produce faster, more stylish and portable computing devices, while offering consumers a more responsive computing environment.

World’s largest capacity drive, 32TB SAS SSD,
for enterprise storage systems
Samsung’s latest SAS SSD is the world’s largest single drive ever introduced based on 512Gb V-NAND chips. A total of 512 V-NAND chips are stacked in 16 layers to form a 1TB package and the 32TB SSD contains 32 of those packages.

By adopting a new 4th generation V-NAND design, the 32TB SAS SSD can reduce system space requirements up to 40 times compared with the same type of system using two racks of HDDs. The 32TB SAS SSD will come in a 2-5-inch form factor and be produced in 2017. Samsung also expects that SSDs with more than 100TB of storage capacity will be available by 2020, thanks to refinement of V-NAND technology.

1TB memory in single BGA package
The Samsung 1TB BGA SSD features a compact, ball grid array (BGA) package design that contains all essential SSD components including triple-level-cell V-NAND flash chips, LPDDR4 mobile DRAM and a Samsung controller.

It will deliver performance, reading sequentially at 1,500MB/s and writing sequentially at 900MB/s. By reducing its size up to 50% compared to its predecessor, the SSD weighs about one gram (less than half the weight of a U.S. dime), making it for compact next generation notebooks, tablets and convertibles.

Next year, Samsung plans to launch its 1TB BGA SSD by adopting a high-density packaging technology called FO-PLP (Fan-out Panel Level Packaging) which Samsung developed with Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

New Z-SSD breaks through performance limits
of current NAND flash memory storage
Samsung has also developed a high-performance, low latency SSD solution, the Z-SSD. It shares the fundamental structure of V-NAND and has a circuit design and controller that can maximize performance, with four times faster latency and 1.6 times better sequential reading than the Samsung PM963 NVMe SSD.

The Z-SSD will be used in systems that deal with intensive real-time analysis as well as extending high performance to all types of workloads.

It is expected to be released next year.