Micron Technology, Inc. (NYSE:MU)
today announced mass production of new NAND flash memory products using its
award-winning 34-nanometer (nm) process technology. As consumers demand increased
capacity to store more music, videos, photos, and applications in ever smaller
portable electronic devices, manufacturers need a storage solution that delivers
on capacity, performance, and size. Micron's new 16- and 32-gigabit (Gb)
NAND chips pair large capacity with performance, providing a compelling solution
for today's demanding portable storage requirements that are tailored
to end-customer product dimensions.
Micron's 32Gb MLC NAND wafer using award-winning 34nm process technology. (Photo: Business Wire)
The newly architected 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND chip is 17 percent smaller
than Micron's first-generation 32Gb chip. The 16Gb MLC NAND chip, at just
84mm², provides high-capacity in an ultra tiny package. Micron is also
now sampling 8- and 16Gb single-level cell (SLC) NAND chips using the 34nm process.
Additionally, Lexar Media, Inc. - a subsidiary of Micron and a leading
provider of consumer memory products for digital devices - is taking advantage
of Micron's new 34nm NAND products by delivering a wide range of flash
memory cards and USB flash drives utilizing this technology.
"Our industry-leading NAND products are opening new possibilities for
some of the world's most popular consumer electronic devices," said
Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group. "With our
new 16- and 32Gb NAND chips in mass production, we are enabling customers to
design cost-effective, high-capacity storage in their small-form factor products,
using less space and fewer die. In addition, the high-speed interface is ideal
in the industry's quest to continue to increase throughput performance
for SSDs."
Both products feature an ONFI 2.1 synchronous interface that delivers transfer
speeds of up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s). In comparison, traditional
SLC NAND is limited to 40 MB/s. With this improved transfer speed, the interface
delivers the fastest read and write throughputs offered in today's NAND
devices. And with solid state drives (SSDs) trending toward a SATA 6 Gb/second
interface, the high-speed NAND interface enables manufacturers to design products
that deliver twice the throughput of today's existing SATA 3Gb/s solutions.
Customers can expect this high-speed interface designed into all future high-density
Micron NAND products.
Micron 34nm NAND Enabling New High-Capacity Memory Cards from Lexar Media
Lexar Media is utilizing Micron's high-capacity 34nm technology in its
high-performance memory cards, including the new Lexar Platinum II 32GB
Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory card and the Lexar 16GB microSDHC
mobile memory card. By the end of September, Micron's new 34nm NAND will
also be used in a wide range of Lexar microSD and microSDHC cards, Memory
Stick Micro (M2) cards, and various capacities of Secure Digital,
SDHC, CompactFlash, and Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. Additionally,
Micron 34nm NAND will be used in Lexar's JumpDrive USB flash drives,
including JumpDrive Retrax, JumpDrive TwistTurn, JumpDrive FireFly, and JumpDrive
Secure II Plus.
"By integrating the increased capacity and performance of Micron's
new 34nm NAND into Lexar's flash memory products, we are giving our customers
the ability to take full advantage of their digital cameras, phones and devices,"
said Greg Rhine, vice president of sales and product marketing at Lexar Media.
"With Lexar's cost-effective, high-capacity, and high-speed memory
cards and USB flash drives, consumers can capture more pictures and videos,
listen to more music, and transfer data between their devices even faster than
before."
The first Lexar memory card to feature Micron's new 32Gb NAND chip is
the new 32GB Lexar Platinum II SDHC memory card. With the ability to store up
to 12 hours of high-definition (HD) video or more than 20,000 5-megapixel images,
the increased capacity enables photographers to capture important events and
memories with photos and HD video. Beyond video and photography, the Lexar Platinum
II 32GB SDHC memory card can be used as a convenient way to expand the available
storage in today's emerging, ultra-portable notebook computer applications,
such as netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).
In addition to its high capacity, the new Lexar Platinum II SDHC card is speed-rated
at 60x (Class 4), offering a minimum-sustained write speed of 9MB per second
that enables photo enthusiasts to take advantage of their camera's burst-mode
setting to capture many images in rapid succession. In addition, a minimum-sustained
read speed of 12MB per second ensures fast transfers of images from the card
to a host computer.
Micron's tiny 16Gb, 34nm NAND chip, which is approximately one-third
the size of a keyboard key, is ideal for ultra-small, high-capacity microSD
cards, such as the Lexar 16GB microSDHC mobile memory card. The Lexar 16GB microSDHC
card allows consumers to expand the capabilities of their digital devices, such
as mobile phones with photo and video capture capabilities, MP3 players, and
smartphones. Consumers can store up to 48,000 2-megapixel JPEG photos, 4,000
songs, or 80 hours of standard-definition video content on the Lexar 16GB microSDHC
card when used in a digital device.*
*For test parameters, visit the Lexar mobile memory capacity chart, here: http://www.lexar.com/digfilm/mobile_cap_chart.html