Intel gets working samples of 25nm, 3 bit per cell flash
updated 02:00 pm EDT, Tue August 17, 2010
Intel's 25nm, 3-bit flash ready to go
Intel's NAND flash memory leapt forward on Tuesday with news it had made the first samples of three bit-per-cell (3BPC), 25 nanometer storage. The development made with Micron is denser still than existing 25nm memory and can hold 8GB of content with 20 percent less of a footprint than traditional storage. Media players, flash memory cards and USB drives could all increase in capacity without growing in size, Intel said.
Unnamed customers should already have samples of the new memory today. Production devices with the improved storage should be available before the end of the year. The technology isn't expected to have a direct effect on Intel's solid-state drive roadmap, which will still need faster but lower density memory to produce 600GB SSDs in the same period.
