Intel shows off low cost 4GB SSD chip

Posted at: 3:41am 30th May 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

Thumbnail-sized multi-level cell chip features 4GB of NAND memory, and can be stacked up to make a cheap 256GB SSD

While a 64GB Samsung solid state disk (SSD) may set you back over half a grand at the moment, Intel and Micron reckon they have the answer to accelerating the SSD revolution with a new 32Gb (4GB) TSOP NAND chip that’s made on a miniscule 34nm process.

The tiny new chip measures just 172mm², making it smaller than the average thumbnail, and Intel claims that you can easily stack the chips to make packages with larger capacities. Intel gives the example of using two eight-die stacked packages in an SSD, giving you a 64GB SSD, and also said that the technology could soon result in ‘capacities beyond 256GB in today's standard, smaller 1.8in form factor.’

According to Intel, the chip offers ‘the smallest NAND process geometry on the market,’ which isn’t surprising given that its transistors have a width of just 34nm. Intel says that the chip was designed with SSDs in mind, and it could certainly make a big impact on the emerging SSD market, which is currently in its infancy with very expensive drives with small capacities. However, Intel says that its new NAND chip will ‘enable more cost-effective SSDs, instantly doubling the current storage volume of these devices.’

Intel originally announced its plans to enter the SSD market at IDF this year, and it hasn’t taken the company long to come up with the goods. Intel claims that the new chips will be sampling as soon as June this year, with mass production scheduled for the second half of 2008. Depending on the pricing of these chips, we could be seeing affordable SSDs with larger capacities by the end of this year.