The technology of 3D NAND flash memory is not new. In the field of SSDs, we’ve already seen how Samsung used it to manufacture its SSD 850 Pro; however, Koreans have only obtained 3D NAND memory cells with a density of 8GB, 10 GB and 16 GB MLC and TLC respectively.
Intel and Micron have achieved, using memories of 32 layers stacked in MLC mode, a density of 32 GB per cell, which is 256 Gbits. In TLC mode the number increases to 48 GB (384 GBit). This move will enable Intel to offer SSDs that are much thinner, cheaper and of greater capacity. There is talk of models with up to 10 TB in the coming years, or models of 1TB being only 2 mm in thickness. It is expected that this technology will be ready in the form of commercial SSD for the second half of 2015 soon to come.
