After so many years of development, solid-state drives (SSDs) have basically become one of the necessary hardware for every computer.
Compared with mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs), although SSDs are far ahead in speed read and write performance, they have a limit on the life of erasing and writing.
SSD flash memory particles are generally divided into SLC, MLC, TLC, QLC, and so on according to the life from high to low and capacity from low to high.
At the recent Shenzhen Flash Summit, Samsung announced that its single SSD capacity can reach 1024 TB within ten years.
This has to make Xiaoyi suspect the use of the legendary PLC (5bit/cell) flash memory particles.
What we didn't expect was that Kioxia (formerly Toshiba) said that HLC, which is more pullable than PLC, is already on the way...
As we know, floating-gate transistors form the basic storage unit of an SSD.
SLC flash memory is like a dedicated young man, only 1bit of data is stored in a storage unit, that is, 1bit/cell.
The benefits of this structure are simple data per unit, fast read and write speeds, low latency, and very long lifetimes.
The theoretical erase life of SLC can even reach more than 100,000 times.
However, its disadvantages are also obvious, high cost, low data density, and difficult capacity to be large.
Hence the MLC, TLC and even QLC behind.
MLC can hold 2bit of data in one storage unit, or 2bit/cell.
Compared to SLCs, MLC has doubled the data density, increased capacity, and lower cost.
Of course, in exchange for a sharp decrease in life, in general, the theoretical erasing life of MLC is around 3000-5000.
TLC Each storage unit can hold 3 bits of data, or 3 bits/cell.
The data density is 4 times higher than that of SLC, and the theoretical erase and write life is only about 1000 times.
On the whole, although the life of TLC is far less than SLC and MLC, it can barely meet our needs with the blessing of large capacity.
This is also the particle currently used in mainstream solids.
By analogy, QLC can hold 4 bits of data per memory cell, doubling the data density again compared to TLC.
But the erase life is only about 150 times.
In addition to the life span, the performance of QLC is also quite touching, so it has attracted unanimous criticism from players.
However, attracted by ultra-low cost and larger capacity, many solid-state countries will still insist on using QLC.
And PLC, the data density will double on the basis of QLC, the cost will definitely drop sharply again, but the life is hard to imagine how miserable.
As for the HLC that Kioxia came up with this time, is it possible to make the solid state a disposable consumable?