3D Flash Memories
A special issue of Computers (ISSN 2073-431X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2017) | Viewed by 76104
Special Issue Editors
Interests: flash memories; non-volatile memories; error correction code
Interests: electrical characterization and modeling of non-volatile memories reliability; reliability of solid-state drives
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Flash memory has been a disruptive technology from its inception in the early 1990s and innovation is still ongoing after more than 25 years. Thanks to its storage density, NAND Flash memories have changed our lives: USB keys have replaced floppy-disks and Flash Cards (SD, eMMC) record our pictures and movies instead of analog films. In the last four to five years, Solid State Drives (SSDs) have emerged as the new killer applications for Flash: First in the consumer space (smartphones and tablets), but now expanding to enterprise applications as well. Indeed, SSDs, because they are extremely demanding in terms of storage capacity, fueled a new wave of innovations: 3D Flash memories. Today “3D” is a common buzzword but in this specific case it means that multiple layers (up to 64, as we speak) of memory cells are manufactured within the same piece of silicon. 3D is a brand new technology, not only because of its multi-layer architecture, but also because it is based on a new type of NAND memory cell. Thus far, NAND has always been based on "floating gate", where the information is stored by injecting electrons in a piece of polysilicon completely surrounded by oxide (this is why it is called floating gate). On the contrary, most of 3D memories are based on "charge trap" cells. On top of that, there multiple ways (architectures) of building and stacking the memory layers.
In summary, we are just at the start of the 3D journey and we do expect more and more advancements in the coming years. Most of the Flash vendors are already talking about reaching up to 100 vertical layers and, for sure, this will require a lot of innovation in process technology, materials, circuit design, Flash management algorithms, Error Correction Code and, last but not least, 3D architectures.
Authors are invited to submit original contributions on the following topics:
- 3D Flash memory architectures
- Process technology for 3D Flash memories (layers and line widths, etching, lithography, deposition, etc.)
- Reliability of 3D Flash memories
- Impact of 3D Flash memories on Solid State Drives
- Error Correction Codes for 3D Flash memories
- 3D Flash memories with Multi-level storage (MLC, TLC)
- Power density and thermal issues
- Logical-to-physical translation in 3D
- Testing, characterization, and defects
- Flash Controllers for 3D Flash memories
- Flash management and Flash signal processing for 3D memories
Dr. Rino Micheloni
Prof. Cristian Zambelli
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- 3D Flash memories
- Floating Gate memory cell
- Charge Trap memory cell
- Solid State Drive
- Error Correction Code
- Flash controller
- Flash Management
- Flash Signal Processing
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