NAND flash memory has surpassed hard disk drive (HDD) technology in areal density for the first time, according to a new report from a market research firm.
During a presentation at the 2016 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco last week, Micron shared data showing NAND flash has moved past HDDs in areal density, according to Coughlin Associates.
At last year's ISSCC, Samsung white papers indicated that its 3D NAND flash products had reached 1.19Tbits per square inch (Tbpsi) and said in 2016 they would reach 1.69Tbpsi.
This year, Micron revealed it had demonstrated areal densities in its laboratories of up to 2.77Tbpsi for its 3D NAND. That compares with the densest HDDs of about 1.3Tbpsi. Tom Coughlin, Coughlin Associates president, noted the flash advancements in a column in Forbes.com last week.
The announced hard drive products from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015 had an increased areal density of about 60%, So HDDs have not stopped evolving," Coughlin said.
"On the other hand, flash memory is getting denser with technology announcements of 2.77Tbspi, higher than any announced HDD areal density. This is a new development. So flash is developing and certainly getting competitive in terms of areal storage density, but the chips are still more expensive to make than disks and the raw costs of storage will likely remain less for HDDs for some time to come."
Source:Computer World