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Tokyo (pte048/09.02.2005/15:55) - Japanese electronics giant Toshiba http://www.toshiba.co.jp has launched a 8GB Flash Chip, which is designed to be manufactured using a 70nm process when production starts this summer. As the British IT portal The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk reports, the part will pave the way for far greater-capacity Flash storage devices, such as USB drives and MP3 players.
The NAND Flash chip is jointly developed with SanDisk and uses a technique called Multi-level Cell (MLC) to store two bits of information in a single memory cell. Although extra circuitry is required to make MLC work, the resulting chip is only five per cent larger than the 90nm 4GB version, according to the partners. As the new chip's transistors are inherently 22.2 per cent smaller than the 4GB one's due to their 70nm construction, Toshiba will rely on the smaller process to "hide" most of the size increase arising from the use of MLC.
According to Toshiba, the 8GB chip can support write speeds of up to 6MB per second and read speeds of up to 60 MB per second - 40 per cent faster than the previous generation. Although production may start in the summer, Toshiba and SanDisk do not expect the new part to dominate their output until 2006. According to the two companies, they are working on a 16GB part that stacks two of the new 8GB chips on top of the other in a single package.
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