Samsung Electronics today announced it has developed what it claims is the industry's first 40nm memory device. The new 32Gbit NAND flash device is the first memory to incorporate a charge trap flash (CTF) architecture, a new approach to further increase manufacturing efficiency while greatly improving performance, according to Samsung.
The new CTF-based NAND flash memory increases the reliability of the memory by reducing inter-cell noise levels. Its simple structure also enables higher scalability which will improve manufacturing process technology from 40 nm to 30nm and even 20nm, said Samsung.
In each 32Gb device, the control gate in the CTF is only 20% as large as a conventional control gate in a typical floating gate structure. With CTF, there is no floating gate. Instead, the data is temporarily placed in a "holding chamber" of the non-conductive layer of the flash memory composed of silicon nitride (SiN). This results in a higher level of reliability and better control of the storage current.
The 32Gb NAND flash memory can be used in memory cards with densities of up to 64GB. One 64GB card can store over 64 hours of DVD resolution movies (40 movies) or 16,000 MP3 music files (1,340 hours).
The CTF design is enabled through the use of a TANOS structure comprised of tantalum (metal), aluminum oxide (high k material), nitride, oxide and silicon. The use of a TANOS structure marks the first application of a metal layer coupled with a high k material to the NAND device.
The TANOS CTF architecture, which serves as the foundation of the 40nm 32Gb CTF NAND flash announced today, was developed after extensive research by the Samsung Semiconductor R&D department. Samsung first revealed the TANOS structure through a paper at the 2003 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).
The new 32Gb CTF memory was announced at the sixth annual Samsung press conference in Seoul.
More specifications:
http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20060911_0000286548
Samsung announces the development of a new 40nm memory device.
Photo: Company