6/10/21
Back in time-since the initial formation of flash memory technology in 1967, the rise and development of flash memory.
1967
Bell Labs Dawon Kahng (Korean) and Dr. Shi Min (Simon Sze) jointly invented the floating gate MOSFET, which is the basis of all flash memory, EEPROM and EPROM.
In 1970
Dove Frohman invented the first successful floating-gate device, EPROM, which was erased by irradiating ultraviolet light. It was very popular in storage software and was crucial to Intel's successful launch of microprocessors.
1979-81
Eli Harari, the founder of American flash memory storage developer SanDisk (SanDisk), was employed by Intel at that time and invented the world's first electrically programmable and erasable memory-EEPROM.
1984
The father of flash memory, Dr. Fujio Masuoka, submitted an industry white paper on the new uses of floating gates when he was at Toshiba, claiming that the chip content can be erased at the moment the camera flashes, hence the name Flash Memory.
1986
Intel introduced the concept of flash memory cards and established a department dedicated to SSDs.
year 1987
Dr. Masuoka made persistent efforts to invent NAND flash memory or 2D NAND.
1988
Intel launched the first commercial flash memory chip, successfully replacing EPROM products. On March 1, Eli founded Sundisk (later renamed SanDisk SanDisk) to provide flash storage products.
in 1989
SunDisk submitted a patent for system flash memory;
M-Systems was established and soon introduced the concept of flash disk, which is the pioneer of flash SSD.
Microsoft and Intel cooperated to launch flash file system;
Intel released 512K and 1MB NOR Flash, while Western Digital and SunDisk fully emulated traditional ATA hard drives and launched SSDs based on NOR Flash;
Samsung and Toshiba respectively launched NAND flash memory with lower cost and higher durability than NOR Flash, which is mainly suitable for large-capacity storage devices such as PC cards.
Early 90s
The flash memory market has expanded rapidly. In 1991, the market size reached 170 million U.S. dollars, in 1992 it reached 295 million U.S. dollars, in 1993 it rose to 505 million U.S. dollars, 1994 reached 864 million U.S. dollars, and directly reached 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in 1995.
In 1991, SunDisk launched the first flash-based ATA SSD with a capacity of 20MB;
10,000 IBM ThinkPad handheld laptops provide service support for SSDs to replace disks;
Toshiba released the world's first 4MB NAND flash memory.
1992
AMD and Fujitsu launched the first NOR flash memory products;
Intel introduced the second-generation FFS 2, 8MB flash memory chip, 4MB-20MB linear flash memory card and 1MB Boot Block NOR Flash for BIOS applications. For the first time, an internal write state machine was used to manage the flash memory write algorithm;
PC officially began to use flash memory for BIOS storage.
1993
Intel introduced 16MB and 32MB NOR Flash. In the same year, Apple started to use NOR Flash in its Newton PDA;
1994
SunDisk introduced Compact Flash cards and 18MB serial NOR Flash chips for SSD applications.
the year 1995
SunDisk changed its name to SanDisk and launched 34MB serial NOR Flash, which is the first MLC flash memory chip for SSD applications.
1996
Samsung began to sell NAND flash memory;
SanDisk introduced the first flash memory card using MLC serial NOR technology.
1997
The first mobile phone was equipped with flash memory, and the consumer-grade flash memory market opened up.
Year 1999
Toshiba and SanDisk cooperate to create a flash memory manufacturing joint venture;
Micron announced that more than 1 billion flash memory chips have been sold;
NOR Flash revenue exceeded US$4 billion.
2001
Toshiba and SanDisk announced the launch of 1Gb MLC NAND. In the same year, SanDisk launched its first NAND system flash memory product;
Samsung began mass production of 512MB flash memory devices.
year 2004
The price of NAND is lower than DRAM based on the same density for the first time, and the cost effect will substitute flash memory into the computing field.
2005
Samsung takes the lead in mass production of NAND flash memory using 70nm process;
Micron launched NAND products;
Microsoft released the concept of hybrid hard drives;
The total sales capacity of NAND exceeds that of DRAM.
year 2006
One of SanDisk's important nodes-announced the launch of 4-bit NAND technology for cell storage, and acquired two companies, Martix Semiconductor and M-Systems;
Micron and Intel formed an IMFT joint venture to manufacture NAND flash memory;
Spansion, a NOR flash memory manufacturer, has launched ORNAND flash memory and announced that it has begun using 65nm process technology to produce 300mm wafers.
Samsung and Seagate show the first hybrid hard drive;
2007
Toshiba launched eMMC NAND and the first solid-state drive based on MLC SATA. In the same year, Fusion-io announced the launch of 640 GB ioDrive based on MLC NAND;
Micron and Intel's IMFT began to sell 50nm NAND flash memory;
Apple officially launched the first iPhone with 4GB or 8GB flash memory;
Spansion acquired Saifun, a licensed supplier of non-volatile memory (NVM) intellectual property rights;
Dell added an SSD option to its laptop configuration and added flash storage to netbooks that cost less than $200;
Seagate launched the first hybrid hard drive-Momentus PSD.
Year 2008
Violin first launched storage devices based on all-flash memory;
IBM demonstrated for the first time a "million IOPS" flash array, and EMC officially announced the use of flash-based SSDs for enterprise SAN applications;
Intel and Micron announced the launch of 34nm 32Gb MLC NAND. Samsung announced the launch of 128GB 2.5-inch MLC SSD. In the same year, Toshiba first launched 512GB MLC SATA SSD and announced the development of 3D NAND structure BICS;
Micron launched the first serial NAND flash memory;
Year 2009
Seagate entered the SSD market. In the same year, Western Digital acquired Silicon Systems and entered the SSD market.
Intel and Micron launched 34nm TLC NAND;
Virident and Schooner launched the first flash-based application device for data centers;
Plaint introduced the first SAS SSD.
year 2010
Intel and Micron launched 25nm TLC and MLC NAND;
Flash memory chip manufacturer Numonyx was acquired by Micron;
Samsung started to produce 64Gb MLC NAND;
Seagate announced the launch of Momentus XT, the first self-managed hybrid hard drive.
year 2011
The flash memory market ushered in the year of acquisition.
LSI acquired SandForce;
SanDisk acquired Pliant Technology, a manufacturer of solid-state hard drives;
Apple's acquisition of Anobit;
Fusion-io acquired IO Turbine;
Seagate launched the second-generation Momentus XT hybrid hard drive, which includes 8GB NAND flash memory and 750GB HDD storage capacity.
2012
SK Telecom acquired a controlling stake in Hynix Semiconductor, and SK Hynix was born;
Samsung created 3D NAND, launched the first generation of 3D NAND flash memory chips, and semiconductors entered the era of three-dimensional stacking;
Micron launched the world's first 2.5-inch enterprise-class PCIe SSD;
SanDisk and Toshiba announced the launch of 19nm flash memory that supports 128Gb chips. In the same year, SanDisk also acquired PCIe cache software supplier FlashSoft;
Micron and Intel launched a 20nm 128Gb MLC NAND chip;
Seagate launched the third-generation hybrid hard drive SSHD that combines flash memory and HDD;
Elpida launched a new generation of memory technology ReRAM;
In the same year, OCZ acquired Sanrad, a developer of flash storage and virtualization software and hardware;
Samsung acquires flash memory software developer NVELO;
Intel acquired Nevex and launched CacheWorks;
year 2013
Samsung announced the first 32-layer SLC V-NAND SSD-850 PRO. In the same year, the 1TB SSD was displayed at the Flash Memory Summit in the United States;
Diablo Technologies announced the launch of memory channel storage technology;
Everspin announced the sale of STT MRAM, which claims to replace the DRAM position in the SSD architecture;
The M.2 PCIe interface officially released the NVMe standard to accelerate communication with flash storage;
Western Digital and SanDisk used iSSSD+HDD to launch hybrid hard drives SSHD, and Toshiba also launched a series of SSHD hybrid hard drives in the same year;
Western Digital successively acquired flash memory software companies sTec, Virident and Velobit;
SanDisk acquired SMART Storage Systems, an enterprise-level SSD developer;
Micron acquired the bankrupt Japanese chip manufacturer Elpida.
Year 2014
Samsung began to sell 32-layer MLC 3D V-NAND-850 EVO. In the same year, Samsung, SanDisk and Toshiba announced the launch of 3D NAND production equipment;
IBM announced that its eXFlash DIMM uses SanDisk ULLtraDIMM and Diablo's memory channel storage technology.
2015
Intel and Micron announced the launch of 3D XPoint Memory, and Intel also launched Optane DIMM and SSD based on XPoint technology;
Toshiba and SanDisk announced the launch of 48-layer 256Gb 3D NAND, Intel and Micron announced the launch of 384Gb 3D NAND, and Samsung launched the first NVMe m.2 solid state drive and 48-layer V-NAND;
SanDisk launched InfinitiFlash storage system;
Cypress acquired Spansion, a semiconductor manufacturer;
2021.1.12
2016. Wuhan Xinxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. opened the first NAND flash memory factory in China;
Western Digital acquired SanDisk for US$19 billion;
Everspin announced the launch of 256MB MRAM chips and 1 Gb chips;
IBM released TLC PCM memory chip;
Intel sold 3D NAND products to the enterprise market, while Micron diverted to sell SSDs for the consumer market.
Micron showcased 768Gb 3D NAND;
2017
Samsung and Toshiba/Western Digital launched 96-layer 3D NAND, and SK Hynix launched 72-layer 3D NAND;
Micron sells a string stack 3D NAND that is different from the vertical stack on the market (2*64 layers can become 128-layer NAND);
Intel 3D XPoint has a brand name and officially sells Optane SSD;
HPE (Xin H3C) acquired flash memory manufacturers Nimble and Simplivity;
Violin Memory, a veteran manufacturer of flash memory arrays, was privatized after bankruptcy (currently returning to the storage market).
2018
The first phase of my country's National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund invested 138.7 billion yuan in the domestic semiconductor industry, and a total of 23 domestic semiconductor companies were publicly invested;
Ziguang's Yangtze River Storage developed 32-layer 3D NAND chips and mass-produced them;
Micron sells enterprise-class SSDs using 1Tb QLC 3D NAND;
Intel released Optane DC (data center) persistent memory, Samsung released Z-SSD;
After the N-round battle, the Bain Capital Consortium acquired Toshiba’s flash memory business for US$18 billion;
Hybrid flash memory startup Tintri filed for bankruptcy, and its assets were acquired by HPC storage provider DDN for $60 million.
2019 year
Intel and Micron have ended their NAND Flash cooperation. It is rumored that Intel may choose new partners, such as SK Hynix;
AWS announced the acquisition of E8, an all-flash array storage company based on NVMe over fabric (NVMe-oF) technology;
NGD sells computing storage NVMe SSD.
2020 year
Changxin Storage announced the development of DDR4 and LPDDR4X, DRAM chips using 19nm process technology;
YMTC announced the successful development of 128-layer QLC 3D NAND flash memory particles;
Everspin began trial production of 1Gb STT-MRAM memory chips;
Xilinx and Samsung launched SmartSSD Computational Storage Drive (CSD);
Nvidia acquired Arm for US$40 billion. Some industry analysts believe that the global semiconductor landscape may change accordingly;
SK Hynix acquired Intel’s NAND flash memory and memory business for US$9 billion, which is expected to be completed in 2025;
AMD acquired FPGA manufacturer Xilinx at a price of 35 billion U.S. dollars;
Marvell acquires analog chip manufacturer Inphi for US$10 billion;
2021
Micron announced the termination of 3D XPoint technology research and development, and will focus on the development of memory products using CXL (Compute Express Link standard) in the future. Intel will continue to sell 3D XPoint products under the Optane brand.
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After 54 years of baptism, the "story" of flash memory continues
In 2021, whether it is the first year of the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan or the first important time node after the epidemic has eased, in the face of the development and changes of the domestic and foreign semiconductor situation, storage companies need a stage for external voices to show themselves Product technology development, and jointly discuss the technological innovation and application practice of flash memory.