Toshiba is also in a hot pursuit in the next-generation NAND flash race and develops the new 96-layer BiCS flash memory with QLS Technology. Yesterday, Samsung introduced its first-ever 8Gb LPDDR5 memory for 5G and mobile AI applications. The new Toshiba 96-layer BiCS Flash with 4-bit-per-cell (quad level cell, QLC) technology boosts single-chip capacity to the highest level. Toshiba says it will start delivering samples to SSD and SSD controller manufacturers for evaluation this September 2018 and will be on queue for mass production in 2019. Toshiba BiCS Flash is widely used in SSDs by Toshiba, OCZ, Plextor, SanDisk and others which competes with Samsung’s V-NAND Flash.

QLC Technology

QLC Technology pushes the bit count for data per memory cell from three to four which results to a significantly higher capacity. With QLC Technology, Toshiba can achieve its maximum capacity of 1.33 Terabytes on a single chip which is developed in partnership with Western Digital. With this technology, it is now possible to create up to 2.66 terabytes capacity in one package using a 16-chip stacked architecture. A packaged prototype of the new device will be exhibited at the 2018 Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California, the United States from August 6th to 9th.

Learn about Toshiba BiCS Flash on the video below