The University of Tokyo recently announced the development of "organic flash memory," a nonvolatile memory that has the same basic structure as a flash memory and is made with organic materials.
Flash memory is a compact form of storage that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. To date, it's been primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives, but during the past two years it has made its way to notebook SSD hard drives.
The memory developed at the University of Tokyo is physically flexible and can be used for large-area sensors, electronic paper and other large-area electronic devices if its memory retention time can be extended, beyond the current one-day limit. It also provides a glimpse of how computing devices could become more physically versatile depending on the situation and other components necessary to make the device work.
There are a broad range of places where non-linear, flexible technologies could make sense. Consider the possibility of wearable storage that conforms to a body shape for video capture, or the ability to use rounded objects as storage devices. This also opens the door for all kinds of practical and nefarious uses--monitoring tire pressure or capturing the data from someone's shoe to find out where they've been.
And while it will likely be a number of years before technology like this is ready for prime-time, it also shows tenets such as Moore's Law related to processors may be usurped by other functions such as the ability to be pliable. It also speaks to the fact that IT as industry needs to continue to push the boundaries on commonly accepted practices and invest in hardware innovation, not just in consumer-facing Web sites and social networks.
Flash has become a highly profitable niche for a number of players such as Sandisk, Toshiba, and Samsung with third quarter 2009 global sales rising 26 percent over the second quarter of 2009. Incidentally, electronics research firm iSuppli noted that the average selling price of NAND flash climbed 40 percent sequentially in the third quarter, double the second quarter's increase. Prices are expected to slip 2.9 percent sequentially in the fourth quarter, according to iSuppli estimates.
Industry insiders are accusing Apple of manipulating the price of NAND flash memory chips used in its popular iPhone and iPod products, according to a report in The Korea Times on Monday.
Citing unnamed sources, the article says Apple asks manufacturers to produce more chips than it eventually buys from Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor. The sources said Apple waits for the price of the chips to fall before making its purchase.
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Apple)
The practice of not buying all of the product originally ordered, semiconductor analyst Jim Handy told CNET, is "not uncommon in the industry."
Handy, of market research firm Objective Analysis, explained that these contracts are normally negotiated with a cancellation clause, with provisions to protect the supplier and buyer. He said companies usually work closely with the buyers, so changes to orders are normally small and don't cause many problems.
Supply and demand in the NAND market are currently about even, Handy said, adding that with the popularity of the iPhone and iPod, he's heard estimates that 20 percent to 30 percent of the worldwide NAND flash memory goes to Apple. In its fiscal fourth-quarter results, the company reported selling 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 million iPhones for the three months ended September 26.
Chipmakers Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor declined to comment for The Korea Times, as did Apple's Korean office. Contacted by CNET, representatives of Apple in the United States also declined to comment for the story.
The iPhone sales numbers continue to increase, as does the number of applications available for the device. Apps are one reason the iPhone has become as popular as it is among so many different categories of users in such a short time on the market.
Apple currently has more than 100,000 apps available for download, with users having downloaded more than 2 billion apps as of November 4.
Mainstream servers are growing increasingly brawny with multicore processors and tremendous memory capacity, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Labs Pittsburgh think 98-pound weaklings of the computing world might be better suited for many of the jobs on the Internet today.
This first-generation FAWN system has an array of boards, each with its own processor, flash memory card, and network connection.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)The alternative the researchers advocate is named FAWN, short for Fast Array of Wimpy Nodes. It's described in a paper just presented at the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles.
In short, the researchers believe some work can be managed with lower expense and lower power consumption using a cluster of servers built with lower-end processors and flash memory than with a general-purpose server. And these days, with green technology in vogue and power costs no longer an afterthought, efficient computing is a big deal.
"We were looking at efficiency at sub-maximum load. We realized the same techniques could serve high loads more efficiently as well," said David Andersen, the Carnegie Mellon assistant professor of computer science who helped lead the project.
... Read moreMemory chip makers will offer more sophisticated flash drives for smartphones--technology that will be comparable to the solid-state drives found in laptops today.
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The Palm Pre comes with an 8GB flash memory drive: flash drive makers like Micron Technology will market more sophisticated flash drives for future phones.
(Credit: Palm)Today's flash drives, which typically range up to 32GB in capacity in products like Apple's iPhone, often use relatively unsophisticated techniques for reading and writing data. In general, the technology is not very different from that used in basic cell phones or digital cameras, according to Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group.
But as smartphones--and possible future tablet devices--become more like personal computing devices and less like basic MP3 players, memory chip makers will begin offering more sophisticated flash memory, said Shirley, in a phone interview.
"In nearly all MP3 players today it's almost exclusively 'raw' NAND. And at some point we anticipate moving more to a managed NAND," Shirley said. NAND is the type of flash memory chip used in all flash cards and solid-state drives.
Managed NAND falls somewhere between very basic flash drives--such as Secure Digital, or SD, cards--and pricey solid-state drives (SSDs) used in laptops and servers. "It's something in between the raw NAND that we've been talking about for cell phones and MP3 players and the full-blown SSD space," Shirley said.
"We believe this will be fairly busy (market) space in 2010," he added.
Solid-state drives used in laptops like the Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo get their performance from highly-developed, sophisticated controller chips and firmware, which manage how the data is read and recorded. Though managed NAND wouldn't necessarily reach this level of sophistication, it would begin to approach it.
The iPhone uses raw NAND with a separate controller, according to Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights, which does research on flash memory technology.
"They like to have control over the flash and the controller so they can boost performance," he said. "They're very cognizant of differentiating their products. The user experience is what is important to them. Whether it means you can download your music or video very quickly, whether it means you can find the data very quickly--that ties in to how they manage the NAND," he said.
But even Apple is looking for better performance as it looks to continue its very successful strategy of making its products different, according to Wong.
And future Netbooks may also use this kind of flash memory. Netbooks today using Intel Atom processors and the Windows operating system use, almost exclusively, hard disk drives. But a new category of Netbooks dubbed smartbooks--devices that are always on, always connected, and boast all-day battery life--are expected to come to market in 2010 packing flash drives. These small laptops may be candidates for managed NAND.
In the midst of a tight market for flash memory, SanDisk and Samsung Electronics have renewed two key agreements that both companies expect will strengthen their positions.
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Business Wire)
In the first of the two deals, SanDisk and Samsung announced on Wednesday an agreement to renew the cross-licensing of certain semiconductor patents. The agreement means that each company has the right to use each other's patents in producing cell flash memory and flash storage systems, such as solid-state drives. It does not include patents related to 3-D memory, a new technology that could eventually replace traditional flash memory in portable devices.
Both companies also signed a flash memory agreement that guarantees a specific portion of Samsung's flash memory chip output to SanDisk.
The deals will "enable both parties to focus on the growth markets at hand," Eli Harari, chairman and chief executive officer of SanDisk, said in a statement. "We are excited about our opportunities in mobile, computing and consumer flash storage markets. Furthermore, continued access to Samsung's flash capacity under competitive terms gives us greater flexibility in managing our future capital expenditures for captive capacity."
Samsung also expressed faith in the agreement. "The renewal agreements enable Samsung and SanDisk to each focus their energies on restoring flash market growth," Oh-Hyun Kwon, president of the semiconductor business at Samsung, said in a statement. "It is clear that these renewal agreements are aimed at strengthening the on-going business relationship between Samsung and SanDisk, and we are pleased that the two companies have worked hard to achieve a significantly improved balance on the patent license."
The new agreements go into effect when the current cross-license and supply agreements expire on August 14 and will run for seven years from that date.
SanDisk and Samsung have a checkered history together. Last year, Samsung had pursued a buyout of SanDisk but eventually withdrew the offer when the two companies couldn't agree on terms. Both companies are battling for a slice of the growing market for solid-state drives. SanDisk is pursuing the consumer Netbook segment, while Samsung is focused on the server arena. SSDs use flash memory for storage to provide greater speed and efficiency over mechanical hard disks.
SanDisk has been under intense pressure because of slower consumer spending and a dour market for flash memory. In February, the company reported a loss of $1.86 billion for its fiscal 2008 fourth quarter. But Samsung's latest results have been strong, thanks to cost cutting and its hot mobile phone business. In April, the company reported a first-quarter profit of $349 million versus a loss of $550 million in the year-ago quarter.
SanDisk shares rose sharply Friday morning, as speculation surfaced that Samsung and Toshiba are interested in a buyout of the company.
SanDisk soared 11 percent to close at $11.05 a share, following a report in the EETimes.
The article, citing unnamed sources, said Samsung, which last year launched an unsuccessful bid for the company, and SanDisk's joint-manufacturing partner Toshiba are both interested in making a bid for the flash memory maker.
Last year, when Samsung made an unsolicited bid for the company, it offered SanDisk $5.85 billion for the company. SanDisk had rejected Samsung's overtures, citing the $26 a share offer as inadequate.
In late October, Samsung withdrew its offer, saying it had made no progress in its six-month effort to acquire the company.
A SanDisk spokesman declined to comment Friday. Representatives from Samsung and Toshiba were not immediately available for comment
SanDisk is disclosing at a San Francisco technology conference Tuesday that it will begin mass production of memory chips that will allow consumers to store up to 64GB of data on tiny flash cards.
SanDisk X4 memory chip packs in four bits per cell
(Credit: SanDisk)The Milpitas, Calif., company's X4 technology will pack four bits of data into each memory cell. To date, flash memory chipmakers typically stored one bit or two bits per cell.
SanDisk--the largest supplier of retail flash cards--is making the disclosure jointly with Toshiba at the 2009 International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). The two companies will use 43-nanometer manufacturing process technology to make the chips.
X4 technology, which SanDisk got when it purchased M-Systems in 2006, will yield tiny Secure Digital (SD) flash cards that hold 64GB of data. Currently, mainstream SanDisk SD cards top out at 16GB, though pricey 32GB cards are also on the market.
"It is a 64-gigabit single die (chip), which is 8GB (per die), the highest capacity point in the industry," said Khandker Quader, senior vice president, memory technology & product development, SanDisk, in a phone interview Monday.
In addition to the memory chip, the die also includes an X4 controller--which manages the data flow. The memory and controller "will be sold as an integrated solution," Quader said. Controllers are the secret sauce used by flash card and solid-state drive suppliers to boost performance. The importance of controllers increases as flash chip densities increase because higher densities require increasingly sophisticated controllers to deliver the necessary performance.
The memory technology itself--the 4 bits per cell 64-gigabit memory--is co-developed and co-owned by SanDisk and Toshiba. The X4 controller technology is solely owned by SanDisk, Quader said. SanDisk and Toshiba also have joint manufacturing facilities in Japan.
The advancement is important because NAND flash--like all silicon chasing Moore's Law--is facing challenges to increase densities "even at two bits and three bits per cell," he said. (NAND is the type of memory used in flash cards and solid-state drives.)
A SanDisk paper at the ISSCC will discuss the performance of the X4 technology. Data speeds will hit 7.8 megabytes per second, Quader said. "This is comparable to what others are producing at lower bits per cell," he said.
X4 flash cards will be available commercially in the first half of 2009, according to Quader.
SanDisk will also present a paper on 32-nanometer X3 technology--three bits per cell--for use in thumbnail-size microSD cards (even smaller than SD cards) that boast capacities up to 16GB. X3 will also be used in solid-state drives, SanDisk said.
Despite these advancements, SanDisk is still a laggard in the emerging solid-state drive market, where companies like Samsung, Toshiba, Micron Technology, and Intel are the early leaders. SanDisk announced at CES in January that it would deliver a 240GB SSD by mid-year.
Spansion said Thursday that it is exploring a merger or sale, as the flash memory chip company delays interest payments on notes.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company announced that it has been "exploring strategic alternatives, including, but not limited to, opportunities to merge with or sell to similar U.S. or foreign businesses."
Spansion, one of the largest flash memory suppliers, was formed by the integration of Advanced Micro Devices' and Fujitsu's flash memory operations in 2003. The company has posted a long string of losses as it has struggled to turn a profit in the fickle NOR flash memory business.
NOR flash is used in set-top boxes and cell phones but addresses a much different market than its better-known cousin, NAND flash. NOR is typically used to store and run computer code, while NAND is used for large-capacity storage, just like hard disk drives.
Spansion received a lukewarm response to its IPO in 2005.
The company said Thursday that it has engaged Barclays Capital "to assist the company in exploring these strategic alternatives," the company said.
In connection with this, Spansion has initiated discussions to begin an "organized process of potential balance sheet restructuring opportunities" and will delay making the interest payment on its outstanding 11.25 percent senior notes due 2016, which is due January 15, the company said.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday lowered its corporate credit rating on Spansion to "D" from "CCC" and the issue-level rating on the company's 11.25 percent senior unsecured notes due 2016 to "D" from "CC."
After a string of quarterly losses, Spansion, according to reports, is also considering Chapter 11 protection.
Toshiba plans to cut flash memory chip production starting in January, citing the global economic slowdown. SanDisk, which operates manufacturing lines jointly with Toshiba, said it will follow suit.
Toshiba announced on Monday that its Yokkaichi Operations plant in Japan's Mie prefecture will cut NAND flash memory production by approximately 30 percent, effective from January 2009.
"Recession in the global economy and the slowdown in consumer spending are having a significant impact on demand for semiconductors," Toshiba said in a statement. "This is particularly notable in NAND flash memories, where decreased demand for applications such as memory cards and MP3 players has generated excess supply."
The Yokkaichi facility has four fabs. Fab 3 and Fab 4 produce NAND flash memories on 300-millimeter wafers, Fab 1 and Fab 2 on 200mm wafers, Toshiba said. "Prior to the January production adjustment, the 300mm wafer lines will suspend operation for 13 days, and the 200mm wafer lines for four days, during the year-end and new-year period," the company said.
Milpitas, Calif.-based SanDisk, meanwhile, said it will halt production at the same joint-venture manufacturing facilities in Yokkaichi. "Production in Fab 3 and Fab 4 will be temporarily halted from December 31 to January 12. Following this shutdown, joint-venture production will resume at approximately 70 percent of current capacity," the company said in a statement.
"The duration and extent of this reduction in fab output will depend upon market conditions," SanDisk said.
SanDisk also said it is continuing to work with Toshiba on definitive agreements to restructure the manufacturing joint ventures and expects to sign these agreements in the first quarter of 2009. An agreement that covers selling a portion of the capacity from the joint ventures to Toshiba was originally announced on October 20.
SanDisk will provide additional details when it holds its fourth-quarter 2008 earnings conference call.
Intel will target solid-state drives for server computers in a tie up with Hitachi that was announced Monday night.
Intel solid state drive
(Credit: Intel)Intel and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) said they will "jointly develop and deliver" Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Fibre Channel (FC) solid-state drives (SSDs) for servers, workstations, and storage systems.
While Hitachi is a large supplier of hard disk drives, Intel manufactures and sells consumer and enterprise-class solid-state drives (and the flash memory chips inside the drives). The enterprise-class X25-E Extreme SSDs that Intel offers now are based on Serial ATA (SATA) technology. As are its consumer-class drives.
Solid-state drives are generally faster than hard-disk drives, particularly at reading data.
"The combination of a leading Enterprise drive supplier with a NAND technology and manufacturing leader will produce world-class solutions in terms of reliability, performance and system compatibility," the companies said in a statement.
The agreement is exclusive to the two companies with the first Serial Attached SCSI and Fibre Channel products expected to be available in early 2010. Both Serial Attached SCSI and Fibre Channel are interfaces typically used in servers.
The companies said the SSDs will not replace hard disk drives but complement them. "The new generation of solid-state drive technology complements existing enterprise-class hard disk drives and is intended for use in storage applications that require extremely high Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) performance and power efficiency," according to the two companies.
Hitachi GST said it will continue to provide its customers with both "traditional" hard-disk drives in addition to the SSDs.
The new SSDs will be "branded and exclusively sold and supported by Hitachi GST" and use Intel NAND flash memory and SSD technology.
Hitachi said it will use its expertise in drive firmware, reliability, qualification and system integration in combination with Intel's technology and manufacturing capabilities.
