Kioxia and SanDisk commence distribution of BiCS9 3D NAND samples, featuring a merge of the 112-layer BiCS5 design with contemporary charge-trap based architecture (CBA) and Toggle 6.0 interface, promising enhanced performance and cost effectiveness.
In a significant stride for the storage industry, Kioxia and SanDisk have commenced sample shipments of their latest BiCS FLASH technology, the ninth-generation BiCS9. This innovative NAND flash technology combines legacy architectures with modern enhancements, setting a new benchmark for high-performance, power-efficient storage solutions.
The heart of BiCS9 is the CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology. This hybrid construction technique involves fabricating the logic (CMOS) and memory cell wafers separately under optimized conditions and then bonding them together into a single high-performance package. This process enables the mixing and matching of mature memory cell structures with a modern I/O interface, allowing BiCS9 to achieve high speeds with Toggle DDR 6.0 and improved performance and efficiency while controlling costs.
BiCS9 is designed to cater to the extreme demands of the AI boom, offering faster, power-conscious storage solutions capable of feeding GPUs with minimal latency. The technology delivers significant improvements in write performance (+61%), read speed (+12%), and power efficiency (+27-36%) compared to previous generations. Despite having fewer layers than BiCS8 or upcoming BiCS10, it achieves competitive bit density and performance.
The new offering is targeted at enterprise SSDs optimized for AI workloads and mid-tier storage solutions that require a balance of cost and performance. BiCS9 delivers Toggle DDR 6.0 speeds of up to 3.6 Gb/s, with peak speeds reaching 4.8 Gb/s under controlled testing conditions.
Kioxia's approach with BiCS9 contrasts with rivals like Samsung and Micron, who are betting on aggressively scaling layer counts to achieve capacity gains. However, Kioxia is focusing on hybrid architectures that offer faster time-to-market and better cost efficiency.
The partnership between Kioxia and SanDisk, which began in 2006, has been instrumental in shaping the BiCS series. The collaboration combines Japanese manufacturing expertise with SanDisk's deep storage market presence.
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[1] Source: Kioxia Corporation, SanDisk Corporation press releases and technical briefings.
Data-and-cloud-computing technologies are increasingly relying on BiCS9, the latest NAND flash technology from Kioxia and SanDisk. This innovation in data-and-technology, dubbed BiCS9, offers improved performance and efficiency, making it a viable option for power-conscious storage solutions for AI workloads and mid-tier storage solutions.
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