The highly competitive NAND flash market just got tighter, with the introduction of IM Flash Technologies' newest device, a 50-nanometer, 4-Gbit offering. This announcement comes as a surprise to the industry, since production in the 55-nm or 50-nm nodes was not anticipated until late 2006 or early 2007. In getting this device into the market, IM Flash Technologies has leapfrogged leading flash vendors Toshiba and Samsung in process technology. And it has gained an advantage in the NAND flash sector that is invaluable in this cost-sensitive marketplace.
The flash market
IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) is the latest company to enter the NAND flash market. The company, which was formed earlier this year by Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp., combines Intel's expertise with NOR multilevel cell (MLC) flash and Micron's knowledge of DRAM and NAND flash. Micron's first NAND flash offering was a 2-Gbit single-level-cell (SLC) device manufactured at the 90-nm process node. At the time of its release, Micron's offering lagged earlier introductions of 2-Gbit devices from Samsung and Toshiba. Despite that disadvantage, however, it managed to remain competitive with those devices, and, thus, was a commendable first offering. Micron, however, and later IM Flash Technologies, would need to close the gap between their products and leading-edge NAND flash devices.
Micron has extensive experience in commodity memory markets and is one of the top DRAM manufacturers. The company was ranked third in 2005 revenue by iSuppli. Micron's strategy in the highly competitive DRAM marketplace has always been to be an innovative cost reducer, however. So instead of becoming a manufacturer that aggressively pushed its technology into advanced geometries like Samsung, it became a manufacturer that moved into a new process node and focused its innovative efforts on reducing costs to give it a competitive advantage.
An example of that innovation is Micron's move to 6F2 DRAM cell sizes from 8F2 cell sizes before any other DRAM producer managed to make that move. Semiconductor Insights (SI) analyzed the first 6F2 devices in 2004: 130-nm devices from Micron. In 2006, Micron also released a 95-nm 6F2 device while Samsung offered a 110-nm solution.
On another front, SI recently examined the patent landscape in the NAND flash market and found that Samsung and Toshiba held the top two positions. This analysis did not include patent applications, however. Although Micron is the third-ranked vendor, SI believes that Micron/IM Flash Technologies will be a more prominent member of this patent landscape once its patents complete the application process. And patent authorities recognize Micron as an innovator. SI believes that Micron's innovations have historically consisted of work in the areas of DRAMs and image sensors, but in recent years this also has likely included NAND flash development.
Intel, on the other hand, has enjoyed success in the NOR flash market by being at the forefront of the industry and cost-reducing its devices through its MLC technology or Intel StrataFlash memory devices. Although Spansion has threatened this position in recent years, Intel is successfully responding by rapidly moving its technology into the 65-nm node to extend its leadership position.
Intel is now also developing its sixth generation of products. The company's experience is valuable, because it provides industry-leading flash manufacturing and MLC knowledge to the IMFT partnership. Intel is also an expert in pushing its processors into advanced process nodes using its ETOX technology. And although NAND flash processes are quite different from those logic processes, the rapid development of 50-nm technology proves that useful knowledge transfer is occurring.
