IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between Intel and Micron, has once again pushed the envelope to the bleeding edge by announcing that the duo is ready to begin production of 25nm NAND flash memory.
“To lead the entire semiconductor industry with the most advanced process technology is a phenomenal feat for Intel and Micron, and we look forward to further pushing the scaling limits,” said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s memory group. “This production technology will enable significant benefits to our customers through higher density media solutions.”
“Through our continued investment in IMFT, we’re delivering leadership technology and manufacturing that enable the most cost-effective and reliable NAND memory,” said Tom Rampone, vice president and general manager, Intel NAND Solutions Group. “This will help speed the adoption of solid-state drive solutions for computing.”
What’s the big deal?
While NAND cells that lie at the heart of Intel-based SSDs (Intel X25-M G2, G.Skill Falcon II and the outrageously fast Micron RealSSD C300) are fabricated on a 34nm process node, the new 25nm chips are half again as small. In practical terms, this means that a single NAND chip based on the 25nm process will have roughly double the capacity of a 34nm chip. The technical merits of this development are two-fold: First, the practical maximum of a solid state disk will double and, second, the number of chips required to hit a target size has been cut in half.
The 25nm 8GB chip (left) fits in the same space as the 34nm 4GB chip (right).
But for consumers, the more pertinent merit is that of cost: Whereas 34nm chips cost about $1.75/GB to produce, it is widely believed that 25nm chips will cost just $00.50/GB to make. While these savings will not be passed on to consumers verbatim–vendors are always looking to boost margins, after all–SSD prices are certainly due for another decline once products based on 25nm cells hit the streets towards the end of the year.
As an example of the savings consumers could expect, Intel’s last shrink from 50nm to 34nm reduced the price of the X-25M SSD by 60% to $225 for 80GB. Even what could be considered a conservative cut of 30% would make the same drive $158. Another 60% cut (unlikely) would push the price to to a stunning $90.
Going forward
With Intel preparing 25nm, Samsung working on 32nm and Toshiba-SanDisk finalizing 30nm nodes, the flash industry’s largest players are firmly entrenching themselves for a protracted battle over size, capacity and cost. If you recall the rapid improvements in hard disk prices and capacities that followed the development perpendicular magnetic recording, this war will hit all the same notes.
As we mentioned, products based on IMFT’s fourth-generation flash technology should debut in the fourth calendar quarter of 2010. The first such products will undoubtedly be Intel X-25M G3 drives with capacities of 160GB, 320GB and 600GB.
If you’ve been waiting for SSDs to get cheap, the next 18-24 months will be your time.
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