What's New! News New Devices Events			Press Release View Our Hot Parts View Our Latest Reports Toshiba 70nm 8Gb MLC NAND Flash Recognized as Most Innovative Non-Volatile Memory FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OTTAWA, June 13, 2006 - Semiconductor Insights (SI), the leader in technical and patent analyses of integrated circuits and electronic systems, today announced that it has awarded Toshiba's 70nm 8Gb MLC NAND Flash the 2006 INSIGHT Award for Most Innovative Non-Volatile Memory. "Toshiba has traditionally relied on its multi-level cell architecture to be competitive in the NAND market, while using an older, more mature process technology. With a 70nm MLC NAND flash, it is clear that Toshiba can deliver both leading edge circuitry and process," stated Geoff MacGillivray, SI's Technology Manager for Memory. "Toshiba started 2006 strongly, gaining share in the NAND flash market, reportedly at the expense of Samsung. This device lays the technical foundation to continue their growth." There are two main architectures in NAND flash — single bit per cell (SBC) and multi-bit per cell (MBC), with multi-level (MLC) being one incarnation of multi-bit. MLC devices tend to lag SBC devices by at least one process generation and vendors have traditionally elected to push either the circuit or process envelope, but not both. This architectural divide goes to the center of the rivalry between Toshiba (MLC) and Samsung (SBC). "We are pleased with Semiconductor Insights' recognition of Toshiba's leading edge MLC NAND technology. The density advantages of Toshiba's MLC NAND help make it the memory of choice for many consumer electronics applications, while enabling cost/performance characteristics well-suited to market requirements," said Scott Nelson, Director, Memory Marketing, for Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. SI's recent analysis of Toshiba's 8Gb 70nm MLC NAND Flash (TC58NVG3D4CTG00) revealed twice the capacity of its previous 4Gb 90nm generation with a less than 6% corresponding increase in die size. "Toshiba's 70nm flash delivers a density-die size rating in excess of 55 Mb/mm², making it the most efficient NAND flash design we have analyzed to date," said MacGillivray. Additional Information: About Toshiba's 8Gb MLC NAND flash in 70nm process About the INSIGHT Awards About Semiconductor Insights About Semiconductor Insights — A Division of UBM Semiconductor Insights (SI) (www.semiconductor.com) is the leading technical advisor to the world’s microelectronics community. SI supports its clients through the technical investigation of patents, integrated circuits and electronic systems. Its TECHinsights division helps technology companies benchmark competing devices, improve time to market and solve technical problems while its IPinsights division helps technology companies and legal professionals evaluate, develop and monetize their intellectual property. Typical clients are major electronics and semiconductor corporations in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Europe and North America and the law firms that represent them. SI is a division of UBM (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com).