The technical challenges posed by QLC technology needed to be overcome, as increasing the number of bits-per-cell by one within the same electron count requires twice the accuracy of TLC technology. Toshiba has combined its advanced circuit design and leading 3D flash memory process technology to overcome this challenge, successfully creating the world's first QLC 3D flash memory.
The timing of this achievement is especially beneficial to datacenters. "The introduction of QLC technology sets the stage for solving many of the challenges facing datacenters today," noted Greg Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights. "For datacenters, QLC SSDs can be an excellent design choice for reducing power consumption and lowering footprint. Additionally, as the push for higher capacity HDDs leads to an increase in areal density and drives up the weight per successive generation, it has become common to see a 42U rack only half-filled due to exceeding maximum weight or power supply. Flash memory-based storage solutions weigh less and realize improved power efficiencies, enabling datacenters to achieve maximum rack capacity."
Toshiba Memory Corporation was among the first to produce 64-layer 256-gigabit (32GB) devices, and has continued to demonstrate its leadership position by advancing the development of its technology. Toshiba was the first company to publically discuss QLC technology (at last year's Flash Memory Summit) and it has long been a part of the company's roadmap strategy for high-density, smaller chip size flash memory solutions. The new QLC device is targeted to applications including enterprise and consumer SSDs, tablets and memory cards.
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