Samsung Electronics Develops 16Gb NAND Flash Memory

Samsung Electronics has again set a milestone in the semiconductor industry.

“Hwang’s (named after president Hwang Chang-gyu) Law,” which states that memory capacity will double every year, has proved true at Samsung over the past six years, giving credibility to the semiconductor growth theory.

Samsung Electronics announced on September 12 at a press conference at Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, “Samsung Electronics has developed, for the first time, a 16Gb (Gigabit) NAND flash memory chip with a 50nm (nanometer: 1nm=1/1 billion of m) design rule.”

The nail-sized memory chip can store up to 16Gb of data, and the width of the semiconductor circuit line is 50nm, 1/2000th that of a strand of hair.

Hwang Chang-gyu, president of Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Division, stated, “When we start mass producing these chips starting in the second half of next year, flash memory will replace paper as the medium for storing and transferring information, thereby beginning the ‘digital paper’ era.”

The 16 Gb technology can be used to make a flash memory card with a capacity up to 32 GB (gigabyte. 1GB=8Gb).

A 32GB card has the capacity to store 20 DVD quality movies (32 hours), 8,000 MP3 files (670 hours), or 200 years’ worth of newspapers.

Samsung Electronics has succeeded in doubling the densities of semiconductor, starting from the 256Mb in 1999.

Also Samsung has managed to make the circuit line width thinner, from 100nm in 2001 to 50nm, thereby maintaining its technological superiority.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com