Samsung Electronics Co.,Ltd., Seoul, announces that it has begun mass-producing the industry’s first 4-bit (QLC, quad-level cell) 4-terabyte SATA solid-state drive for consumers. The 1Tb 4-bit V-NAND chip is designed to efficiently produce a 128GB memory card, providing higher capacities for high-performance memory storage for smartphones.
The change from 3 to 4 bits has been an industry barrier due to the drop in the electrical charge – as much as 50% – caused by the increase in capacity per unit area, which results in a reduction in performance and speed. The new 4-bit 4TB QLC SATA SSD maintains performance using a 3-bit SSD controller and TurboWrite technology, while increasing drive capacity through the use of 32 chips, all based on 64-layer fourth-generation 1Tb V-NAND. The 4-bit QLC SSD enables a sequential read speed of 540 MB/s and a sequential write speed of 520 MB/s.
Samsung plans to introduce several 4-bit consumer SSDs later this year with 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities in the widely used 2.5-inch form factor.
