Not to be outdone by Korean rival Samsung’s advancements in chip architecture and NAND flash memory milestones, Toshiba has announced a breakthrough in embedded NAND Flash chip architecture that will soon lead to smaller and more efficient mobile phones. Toshiba has dubbed the new architecture mobileLBA-NAND – which incorporates both Single Level Cell (SLC) and Multi Level Cell (MLC) flash memory types into the same chip. The higher-speed SLC memory type is ideal for storing programs, while the high-capacity MLC memory type is best suited for storing data.
By combining the two specialized memory formats onto a single chip, handset designers are no longer limited to using the more expensive SLC flash memory format. The new chip architecture will also shave precious bulk by obviating the need for separate SLC and MLC memory banks – giving us smaller and more efficient mobile phones in the near future.
It’s these kinds of baby steps in technological advancements that make us giddy with excitement. It may not seem like an incredible breakthrough at the moment, but combined with all the other baby steps, the industry is forging ahead towards a future filled with super-slim handsets.
Toshiba plans a summer ship-date of sample chips to manufacturers.
Press Release here.
[Via: Yahoo News]