YMTC X2-6070 128-Layer 1.33Tb QLC 3D NAND Flash Chip Passed Sample Verification on SSD Platform

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. (YMCA), announced that its 128-layer 1.33Tb QLC 3D NAND flash memory chip, X2-6070, has passed sample verification on the SSD platform through co-working with multiple controller partners.

It has achieved a high bit density, high I/O speed and high capacity.

The company also introduced a 128-layer 512Gb TLC (3 bit/cell) chip, X2-9060, to meet diversified application requirements.

“As a new entrant in the flash memory industry, YMTC has reached to new heights by launching the 1.33Tb QLC product,“ said Grace Gong, SVP, marketing and sales. “We are able to achieve these results today because of the incredible synergy created through seamless collaboration with our global industry partners, as well as remarkable contributions from our employees. With the launch of Xtacking2.0, YMTC is now capable of building a new business ecosystem where our partners can play to their strengths and we can achieve mutually beneficial results.“

Xtacking2.0 unleashes potential of 3D NAND
Leveraging the Xtacking architecture, the company has optimized the design and manufacturing processes of CMOS circuits and memory arrays. As a result, the firm’s 64-layer TLC products perform well in terms of storage bit density, I/O speed, and reliability.

In its 128-layer line of products, Xtacking has been upgraded to version 2.0, which is bringing more benefits to flash memory. In terms of R/W performance, 1.6Gb/s can be enabled on both X2-6070 and X2-9060 by using 1.2V Vccq. As independent manufacturing processes have been adopted for peripheral circuits and memory cells, it provides the capability to bring better functional scalability in chip design without increasing the chip area. In the future, the company will continue to collaborate with more partners to build its ecosystem.

With 1.6Gb/s high-speed I/O performance and 1.33Tb capacity, X2-6070 is demonstrating the performance and capabilities of Xtacking architecture.

“We are confident that this product will be able to meet a broad range of market needs and provide even greater value to our customers. This QLC product will first be applied to consumer-grade SSDs and will eventually be extended into enterprise servers and data centers in order to meet the diverse storage needs of the 5G and AI era,” said Gong.

QLC technical characteristics and applications
Compared with TLC, QLC has features including large capacity, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency for read-intensive applications. Each X2-6070 QLC chip has 128 layers of array stacks and contains more than 366 billion effective charge-trap memory cells. As a single memory cell contains 4-bit data, each chip provides a total of 1.33Tb storage capacity.

Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst, Forward Insights, a market research company in the field of flash memory and SSDs, said: “Vertical scaling of 3D NAND by increasing the number of layers is becoming progressively more capital intensive with each gen. QLC is a necessary and capital-efficient approach to reduce NAND flash cost. Due to the characteristics of QLC, it is suitable as a high capacity storage media. As client SSDs transition to 512GB and above, the vast majority will be QLC-based. The lower read latency of enterprise and datacenter QLC SSDs compared to HDDs will make it suitable for read-intensive applications in AI, ML and real-time analytics, and big data. In consumer storage, QLC will become prevalent in USB flash drives, flash memory cards, and external SSDs.“

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February 19, 2020 | Press Release