SK Hynix starts production nand memory with 128 layers

SK Hynix has started mass production of its new generation ‘4d nand’. This is made up of 128 layers, which entails advantages in terms of size, cost and consumption. Next year, the memory should appear in smartphones.

Mass production of the 128-layer nand will start just six months after that of the previous 96-layer generation. The manufacturer refers to the memory with the marketing term 4d-nand. In fact, it is stacked triple-level cell memory with the drive logic of the memory cells below the nand. SK Hynix emphasizes that in combination with increasing the number of layers, it has made production more efficient, reducing costs.

Delivery of the 128-layer memory, for example for enterprise SSDs, will start in the second half of the year. In the first half of 2020, the new generation NAND with UFS 3.1 interface for smartphones will be introduced.

This concerns 1Tb chips, of which eight are then needed for 1TB of storage, whereas that now concerns sixteen 512Gb chips with 96 layers. Those chips come in a 1mm thin package and consumption would be 20 percent lower with the new generation. The throughput will then increase again. It is 1200Mbit/s with the 96-layer nand and 1400Mbit/s with the 128-layer variant, both at 1.2V.

SK Hynix also plans to mass-produce 2TB SSDs with its own controller. It should start in the first half of next year. Also in 2020 16TB and 32TB NVME SSDs for data centers will appear.