The Third GMIF2024 Innovation Summit was successfully held at the Renaissance Shenzhen Bay Hotel in recent days. The event brought together senior executives and industry experts from renowned domestic and international companies, including the School of Integrated Circuits at Peking University, Micron, Western Digital, Solidigm, Arm, UNISOC, Intel, iFlytek, Rockchip, Silicon Motion, BIWIN, Victory Giant, Allwinner, InnoGrit, Maxio, QUANXING, Montage, Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research, DISCO, Skyverse, Loongson Technology, and many others. The gathering saw industry leaders engage in discussions on global storage innovation and ecosystem collaboration for shared growth in the AI era. During the summit, the GMIF2024 Annual Awards were officially unveiled, and a total of 38 key enterprises from across the industry supply chain had been honored for their outstanding contributions.
The 3rd GMIF2024 Innovation Summit was featured with a keynote from Dr. Yan Li, VP of Advanced Technology at Western Digital, focusing on “3D QLC NAND Flash Scaling and Its Applications”. In the presentation, Dr. Li provided a comprehensive overview of the current state of 3D NAND technology, the technical challenges it faces, and its potential applications in the AI era. As a global leader in storage technology, Western Digital holds a prominent position not only in the hard drive market but also in Flash storage, where it has established deep expertise. Through innovations like 3D QLC NAND Flash, Western Digital is driving advancements in storage technology, offering solutions to meet the massive data demands of the AI-driven future.
History and Current State of 3D NAND Technology
Dr. Yan Li started the speech by first reviewing the development history of 3D NAND technology. Ever since NAND Flash technology emerged in 1995, Western Digital has joined hands with its partners to advance the progress and evolution of NAND technology. This journey has seen a shift from the early 2D planar structure to today’s 3D stacked architecture, resulting in significant improvements in storage density and performance. Dr. Li highlighted that, with the progress of technology, 2D NAND has nearly reached its process limits. The introduction of 3D NAND has enabled memory to achieve higher density and lower costs through vertical stacking. For the time being, Western Digital has begun mass production of 218-layer 3D NAND products.
In spite of the dramatic increase in storage capacity catalyzed by technology advancements, the primary challenge for 3D NAND technology lies not in the technology itself but in its economic viability. Dr. Li explained that the production costs of 3D NAND are extremely high, especially with higher-layer stacking, where the cost of manufacturing equipment is enormous. This has led the industry into a “vicious cycle”. The cycle is evident in the way that increased production capacity does not align with market demand for storage, causing prices to fall and further tightening profit margins.
Technical Advantages and Challenges of 3D QLC
3D QLC (Quad-Level Cell), as the latest breakthrough in NAND technology, can store 4 bits of data in each memory cell, significantly increasing storage density. Dr. Yan Li provided a detailed explanation of the technical features of 3D QLC and its advantages over traditional TLC (Triple-Level Cell). 3D NAND utilizes an innovative cylindrical structure that increases the width of memory cells, and further enhances performance and reliability. Moreover, the Charge Trap Cell technology reduces the issue of charge loss, greatly improving the stability of data retention.
However, as storage density increases, 3D QLC also faces challenges in terms of reliability and performance. Particularly in higher-layer 3D NAND, the critical challenge lies in maintaining data reading and writing performance while ensuring storage capacity. “While we have achieved higher layer stacking, improving performance and reducing power consumption remain significant challenges for the industry,” Dr. Li added.
Application Scenarios of 3D QLC: From Consumer to Enterprise-Grade
With the advent of the AI era, the demand for storage has seen explosive growth, with projections indicating that several ZB of data will need to be stored globally. Dr. Yan Li pointed out that 3D QLC NAND Flash holds tremendous potential in meeting these demands, particularly in fields such as AI, big data, and cloud computing, where high-density storage will be an ideal choice.
“In enterprise-grade applications, 3D QLC can replace traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), offering greater storage capacity and faster read and write speeds,” Dr. Li stated. Additionally, as the demand for storage in AI servers and data centers continues to rise, QLC NAND Flash, with its cost-effectiveness and high capacity, is set to become the mainstream choice for enterprise storage. She further emphasized that the combination of QLC NAND with system-level optimizations, such as Zoned Namespace (ZNS) or Flexible Data Placement, can significantly enhance the reliability and performance of storage devices, extending their lifespan.
Technological Innovations: Enhancing Storage Performance and Power Optimization
In the keynote, Dr. Yan Li also highlighted Western Digital’s innovations in improving storage performance and reducing power consumption. By separating the CMOS from the 3D NAND stacked structure, Western Digital effectively addressed the issue of CMOS performance degradation in high-temperature processing environments. This was achieved through the implementation of the “CMOS Bonded Array” (CBA) architecture, which delivers higher input/output (I/O) performance and faster data transfer rates.
Furthermore, Dr. Li mentioned that in response to the demand for efficient storage in the AI era, Western Digital has introduced numerous innovative technologies for QLC NAND, such as asynchronous read operations, optimized data management strategies, and power reduction techniques achieved by minimizing data movement. The application of these technologies has allowed 3D QLC to maintain high capacity while further enhancing performance and energy efficiency.
Dr. Yan Li accepts the GMIF2024 “Outstanding Technology Innovation Award” on behalf of Western Digital
Summary
The rapid development of 3D QLC NAND Flash technology presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the storage industry. In Dr. Yan Li’s presentation, it can be observed that how Western Digital is driving the widespread adoption of 3D QLC NAND Flash through continuous technological innovation and strategic industry positioning. As the demand for AI, big data, and cloud computing continues to grow, 3D QLC is set to play an increasingly significant role in both enterprise-grade storage and consumer markets, providing efficient and reliable storage solutions for the future intelligent era.
From a technical perspective, the vertical stacking architecture of 3D NAND, combined with innovative charge trapping technology, enables higher storage density. However, as the number of layers increases, achieving a balance among cost, reliability, and performance remains a primary challenge for the industry. Looking ahead, with further technological breakthroughs and collaborative industry efforts, 3D QLC NAND Flash will play a crucial role in advancing storage innovations in the AI era.