SK Hynix Mass-Producing 128-Layer 1Tb TLC 4D NAND Flash

SK Hynix Inc. developed and starts mass-producing a 128-layer 1Tb TLC 4D NAND flash, 8 months after it announced the 96-layer 4D NAND flash last year.

The 128-layer 1Tb NAND chip offers a highest vertical stacking with more than 360 billion NAND cells, each of which stores three bits, per one chip. To achieve this, the company applied technologies such as ‘ultra-homogeneous vertical etching technology,’ ‘high-reliability multi-layer thin-film cell formation technology,’ and fast low-power circuit design, to its own 4D NAND technology.

This product provides a high density of 1Tb for TLC NAND flash. A number of companies including the firm have developed 1Tb QLC NAND products, but it is the first to commercialize the 1Tb TLC NAND flash. TLC accounts for more than 85% of the NAND flash market with performance and reliability.

The small chip size, the biggest advantage of the company’s 4D NAND, allowed the company to realize high-density NAND flash memory. The firm announced the 4D NAND in October 2018, which combined 3D CTF (Charge Trap flash) design with the PUC (Peri. Under Cell) technology.

With the same 4D platform and process optimization, the company was able to reduce the total number of manufacturing processes by 5% while stacking 32 more layers on the existing 96-layer NAND. As a result, the investment cost for the transition from 96-Layer to 128-layer NAND has been reduced by 60% compared to the previous technology migration, boosting investment efficiency.

The 128-layer 1Tb 4D NAND increases bit productivity per wafer by 40% compared to the company’s 96-layer 4D NAND.

The firm will start shipping the 128-layer 4D NAND flash from the second half of this year, while continuing to roll out various solutions.

With its four-Plane architecture in a single chip, this product achieved a data transfer rate of 1,400 Mb/s) at 1.2V, enabling performance and low-power mobile solutions and enterprise SSD.

The company plans to develop the next-generation UFS 3.1 product in the first half of next year for major smartphone customers. With 128-layer 1Tb NAND flash, the number of NAND chips necessary for a 1TB product, currently the largest capacity for a smart phone, will be reduced by half, compared to 512Gb NAND; it will provide customers with a mobile solution with 20% less power consumption in a 1mm-thin package.

The company also intends to start mass production of a 2TB client SSD with an in-house controller and software in the first half of next year. 16TB and 32TB NVMe SSDs for cloud data centers will be released next year as well.

“SK Hynix has secured the fundamental competitiveness of its NAND business with this 128-Layer 4D NAND,” said Jong Hoon Oh, EVP, head, global sales and marketing. “With this product, with the industry’s best stacking and density, we will provide customers with a variety of solutions at the right time.“

SK Hynix team

The company is developing the next-generation 176-layer 4D NAND flash, and will continue to strengthen the competitiveness of its NAND business.

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