FlashChips
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Samsung slims down NAND memory packaging, wafer-thin gadgets to follow
Good old Samsung and its obsession with thinness. After finally letting its 30nm 32Gb NAND chips out of the bag in May, the Korean memory maker has now successfully halved the thickness of its octa-die memory package to a shockingly thin 0.6mm (or 0.02 inches). The new stacks will start out at a 32GB size, though the real benefits are likelier to be felt down the line when the ability to pack bits more densely pays off in even higher storage capacities. Cellphones, media players and digital cameras will inevitably take the lion's share, but we're hopeful -- eternal optimists that we are -- that this could accelerate the decline of SSD prices to a borderline affordable level. Intel and Micron promised us as much, how about Samsung delivering it?
Ex-Seagate CEO joins startup Vertical Circuits, learns secret of the silver, gadget-shrinking ooze
Bill Watkins, the oft-outspoken former CEO of Seagate, has thrown his support behind tech startup Vertical Circuits, who claim to have an uncanny knack for shrinking gadgets with the power of voodoo -- or rather, a patented silver ooze, but we prefer our theories. The goo works as a replacement for gold wires to connect vertically stacked chips, cleaning up the internal cable clutter and leaving more room for better processor, bigger batteries, larger displays, or just a tinier form factor. Right now the focus is on stacking flash memory, but the group says they can use the same technique for processors and other chips. At this stage, there's no product or partnership to show for it, but if they're as good as they say, we hopefully won't have to wait long to see the fruits of their labor.
Toshiba introduces ultra-dense 43nm SLC NAND flash chips
The dense just keep getting denser -- er, something like that. Anywho, those who just love talking about fabrication technologies over tea and crumpets will adore what Toshiba's boasting: a new family of 43-nanometer SLC NAND flash products. The 16-member crew will range in density from 512Mbits to 64Gbits, with a trio of 'em (16Gb, 32Gb and 64Gb) integrating 43nm monolithic 16Gb chips, "the highest density SLC NAND chips available." Tosh is hoping to find its new gear in all sorts of mobile phones, office automation equipment and servers when they begin shipping in Q1 2009, but it's keeping pretty quiet on the pricing front for now.[Via Physorg]
