SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first 3-bit multi-level-cell (MLC) three-dimensional (3D) Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory, for use in solid state drives (SSDs).

“With the addition of a whole new line of high density SSDs that is both performance- and value-driven, we believe the 3-bit V-NAND will accelerate the transition of data storage devices from hard disk drives to SSDs,” said Jaesoo Han, Senior Vice President, Memory Sales & Marketing, Samsung Electronics. “The wider variety of SSDs will increase our product competitiveness as we further expand our rapidly growing SSD business.”

The 3-bit V-NAND is Samsung’s latest second generation V-NAND device, which utilizes 32 vertically stacked cell layers per NAND memory chip. Each chip provides 128 gigabits (Gb) of memory storage.

In Samsung’s V-NAND chip structure, each cell is electrically connected to a non-conductive layer using charge trap flash (CTF) technology. Each cell array is vertically stacked on top of one another to form multibillion-cell chips.

The use of 3 bit-per-cell, 32-layer vertically stacked cell arrays sharply raises the efficiency of memory production. Compared to Samsung’s 10 nanometer-class* 3-bit planar NAND flash, the new 3-bit V-NAND has more than doubled wafer productivity.

Samsung introduced its first generation V-NAND (24 layer cells) in August 2013, and introduced its second generation V-NAND (32-layer) cell array structure in May 2014. With the launch of the 32-layer, 3-bit V-NAND, Samsung is leading the 3D memory era by speeding up the evolution of V-NAND production technology.

After having first produced SSDs based on 3-bit planar NAND flash in 2012, Samsung has proven that there is indeed a mass market for high-density 3-bit NAND SSDs.

The industry’s first 3-bit 3D V-NAND will considerably expand market adoption of V-NAND memory, to SSDs suitable for general PC users, in addition to efficiently addressing the high-endurance storage needs of most servers today.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 286,000 people across 80 countries with annual sales of U.S. $216.7 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

* Editors’ Note: 10 nanometer-class means a process technology node somewhere between 10 and 20 nanometers.