5 Three-dimensional 128Gb MLC vertical NAND Flash-memory with 24-WL stacked layers and 50MB/s high-speed programming

In the past few years, various 3D NAND Flash memories have been demonstrated, from device feasibility to chip implementation, to overcome scaling challenges in conventional planar NAND Flash 1-3. The difficulties include shrinking the NAND cell and increasing manufacturing costs due to quadruple patterning and extreme ultraviolet lithography, motivating the development of the next-generation node beyond 16nm-class NAND Flash 4. In this paper, as a new 3D memory device with lower manufacturing cost and superior device scalability, we present a true 3D 128Gb 2b/cell vertical-NAND (V-NAND) Flash. The chip accomplishes 50MB/s write throughput with 3K endurance for typical embedded applications such as mobile and personal computer. Also, extended endurance of 35K is achieved with 33MB/s of write throughput for data center and enterprise SSD applications.