Memory-Tech And Toshiba Announce Advance In Single-sided, Three-Layer TWIN Format DVD and HD DVD
Samsung Announces First 40nm 32Gb NAND Flash With Charge Trap
Memory-Tech And Toshiba Announce Advance In Single-sided, Three-Layer TWIN Format DVD and HD DVD
Memory-Tech Corporation and Toshiba Corporation today announced the latest advance in DVD disc technology: a jointly developed, single-sided, three-layer ROM disc supporting high capacity storage and playback of both DVD and HD DVD formats.
The newly announced disc is the latest addition to the DVD TWIN format, discs that support both DVD and HD DVD content and that are fully compatible with both formats. The new disc features three-layer structure offering support for two HD DVD layers and one DVD layer or two DVD layers and one HD DVD layer. Memory-Tech and Toshiba will propose the new disc to the HD DVD Forum, the industry body that defines DVD standards.
In a two-layer HD DVD configuration, the new TWIN disc has a 30GB HD DVD capacity, plus 4.7GB of standard DVD capacity. Configured to maximize standard DVD content, the disc can support 8.5GB on two layers, plus 15GB of HD DVD content on the third layer. DVD content can be played back on a standard DVD player, while HD DVD players can play back both formats.
Memory-Tech and Toshiba together proposed the DVD/HD DVD TWIN to the DVD Forum in 2004, as a transitional format able to support both standard DVD and HD DVD content. The single-sided, dual-layer TWIN disc was adopted as part of the HD DVD specifications, and has found wide application since HD DVD players and PC drives were launched in the Japanese and North American markets in March this year. One advantage is its ability to support both standard definition and high definition versions of a movie, allowing users to play it back now on present DVD players, and to enjoy the high definition version once they upgrade to an HD DVD player.
The only drawback with the first generation TWIN disc was its limited capacity: support for 15GB of HD DVD content and 4.7GB of DVD content. The new 3-layer disc meets demand from movie studios and software companies in North America and Japan for a capacity boost, and offers double the maximum capacity for each format.
The new disc also maintains two defining features of the HD DVD format: a low cost and highly efficient manufacturing process. Memory-Tech has developed a new disc manufacturing procedure that adds an additional process to form the third layer, but does so on the same disc replication machines that can be used for DVD and HD DVD mass production.
Memory-Tech and Toshiba will propose the new format to DVD Forum and develop reliable disc manufacturing process together. Memory-Tech and Toshiba will introduce the new format to content providers and develop new business opportunities together with studio partners.
Source: Toshiba Corporation
Samsung Announces First 40nm 32Gb NAND Flash With Charge Trap
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that it has developed the first 40-nanometer memory device. The new 32 Gigabit NAND flash device is the first memory to incorporate a Charge Trap Flash (CTF) architecture, a new approach to further increase manufacturing efficiency while improving performance. The 32Gb NAND flash memory can be used in memory cards with densities of up to 64GB.
According to the source, the new CTF-based NAND flash memory increases the reliability of the memory by sharply reducing inter-cell noise levels. Its simple structure also enables higher scalability which will eventually improve manufacturing process technology from 40 nm to 30 and even 20nm.
In each 32Gb device, the control gate in the CTF is only 20% as large as a conventional control gate in a typical floating gate structure. With CTF, there is no floating gate. Instead, the data is temporarily placed in a “holding chamber” of the non-conductive layer of the flash memory composed of silicon nitride (SiN). This results in a higher level of reliability and better control of the storage current.
The CTF design is enabled through the use of a TANOS structure comprised of tantalum (metal), aluminum oxide (high k material), nitride, oxide and silicon. The use of a TANOS structure marks the first application of a metal layer coupled with a high k material to the NAND device.
The TANOS CTF architecture, which serves as the foundation of the 40nm 32Gb CTF NAND flash announced today, was developed after extensive research of the Samsung Semiconductor R&D department. Samsung first revealed the TANOS structure through a paper at the 2003 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).
The new 32Gb CTF memory was announced at the sixth annual Samsung press conference in Seoul.
Source: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
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