Toshiba XL-Flash

2019: Start of XL Flash

On August 7, 2019 the company Kioxia (Toshiba Memory Europe, TME) announced start in production of the solution in the field of memory of a class storages (Storage Class Memory SCM) — XL-FLASH. It is created on the basis of own TME technology — 3D - a flash-memory BiCS FLASH with placement 1 bit data in a cell (SLC) — and provides the low delay and high performance demanded in data centers and corporate data warehouses.

According to the developer, the solution XL-FLASH representing memory of a class of storage, or a non-volatile memory is capable to save contents similarly flash memory of NAND and eliminates performance gap between memory of types DRAM and NAND. The volatile memory, including DRAM, provides necessary speed access to data for work applications with high requirements, but such performance is connected with high costs. When the cost of DRAM solutions per data bit becomes too high, and scaling options come to naught, SCM level in hierarchy of memory devices allows to solve this problem, proposing the cost-efficient solution in the form of non-volatile a flash memory of NAND with a high density data storage. The analytical company IDC predicts expansion of the market of SCM devices to more than 3 billion dollars USA in 2022.

According to the statement of the developer, occupying a niche between DRAM and a flash memory of NAND, the solution XL-FLASH provides growth of speed, decrease in a delay and increase in volumes of data storage devices at lower cost in comparison with traditional DRAM memory. XL-FLASH will be issued originally in the SSD format, but afterwards can be implemented also in a format of the devices connected to the channel of memory on the bus DRAM such as non-volatile two-row modules of memory (NVDIMM) which should become an industry standard in the future.

Main features mentioned by Kioxia Europe:

• crystal with a capacity of 128 gigabits (GB) (the module from 2, 4 or 8 crystals);
• page size is 4 CBs for increase in efficiency of a read and write the operating system;
• 16-bit slice architecture for more effective parallel operation;
• low time of reading and programming of pages: memory of XL-FLASH has a low delay of reading — less than 5 microseconds that is about 10 times faster in comparison with the existing memory of TLC.

As reported in Kioxia Europe, deliveries of fact-finding samples will begin in September, 2019, and the beginning of serial production is planned for 2020.