Samsung begins mass producing industry’s first 9th-gen V-NAND

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday announced that it has started mass producing its 1Tb triple-level cell (TLC) 9th-generation vertical NAND (V-NAND), with a quad-level cell (QLC) model to follow in the second half of this year.

Samsung has improved the bit density of their 9th-gen V-NAND by around 50% compared to the previous generation by utilizing the industry's smallest cell size and thinnest mold. The tech giant has also applied new innovations such as cell interference avoidance and cell life extension to enhance product quality and reliability, while eliminating dummy channel holes, significantly reducing the planar area of the memory cells.

In addition, Samsung's advanced "channel hole etching" technology maximizes the fabrication productivity of their products. This technology creates electron pathways by stacking mold layers and allows simultaneous drilling of the highest cell layer count in a double-stack structure. As the number of cell layers increases, it becomes essential to pierce through higher cell numbers, which demands more sophisticated etching techniques.

The 9th-generation V-NAND features the next-generation NAND flash interface, called Toggle 5.1", which supports faster data input/output speeds, with an increase of up to 33%, reaching 3.2 gigabits-per-second (Gbps). Samsung also plans to expand support for PCIe 5.0 to strengthen its position in the high-performance SSD market.

Furthermore, advancements in low-power design have led to a 10% improvement in power consumption, compared to the previous generation. This is a great achievement as reducing energy usage and carbon emissions is becoming increasingly important for customers. Samsung's 9th-generation V-NAND is expected to be an ideal solution for future applications, thanks to its energy-efficient features.

"We are excited to deliver the industry's first 9th-gen V-NAND which will bring future applications leaps forward. To address the evolving needs for NAND flash solutions, Samsung has pushed the boundaries in cell architecture and operational scheme for our next-generation product," said SungHoi Hur, Head of Flash Product & Technology of the Memory Business at Samsung Electronics.