Samsung Electronics is sampling a new type of flash memory device that could make it easier for makers of mobile phones and MP3 players to increase the storage capacity of their products.
Samsung’s moviNAND devices combine a NAND flash memory chip, a multimedia card (MMC) controller and some firmware into a component that’s small enough to be used in the latest portable electronics products, the company said.
Samsung has started shipping samples of 1G and 2GB moviNAND chips to manufacturers and will begin mass producing them later this month. It plans to introduce 512M and 4GB capacities by year-end, it said.
MoviNAND solves allows device makers to include a large amount of flash memory in their products while still using a standard serial interface, the company said.
“The significance of the MMC interface is that the complexities of the native NAND interface and management are completely abstracted from the [portable device],” Samsung spokesman John Lucas said via e-mail.
In addition, the MMC interface performance is better than other standard interfaces because it has an eight-bit wide bus, allowing data to be processed at up to 52MBps, he said.
NAND flash has become popular for its ability to store large amounts of data at relatively low cost and to retain that data when devices are switched off. It’s used in memory sticks, memory cards and digital music players such as Apple Computer’s iPod. Other NAND makers include Toshiba, Hynix Semiconductor and IM Flash Technologies.
It’s one of several recent flash memory advancements from Samsung. On Monday the South Korean company showed off a 32GB NAND flash memory chip built using an advanced, 40-nanometer manufacturing process.
