Crazy Fast 232-layer 3D NAND SSDs In Production

YMTC has begun shipments of its Zhitai TiPlus7100 SSDs, which are based on its latest 232-layer 3D NAND Xtacking 3.0 memory with a 2400 MT/s interface. This confirms that YMTC’s latest 3D NAND memory is now in mass production and is capable of producing SSDs with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface that can fully saturate this interface and reach a 12.4 GB/s sequential read speed. The Zhitai TiPlus7100 are M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 drives designed to offer affordability and strong performance in one package. The SSDs come in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB versions, with the fastest model rated for a sequential read speed of up to 7000 MB/s as well as a sequential write speed of up to 6000 MB/s. When it comes to random performance, the 1TB and 2TB models are set to offer up to 900K random read IOPS as well as up to 700K random write IOPS. These drives do not have an SDRAM buffer but instead use a host memory buffer, which suggests that they are reasonably priced products that can easily compete with the best SSDs available today.

YMTC does not disclose what controller it uses for its Zhitai TiPlus7100 SSDs, but the main point about these drives for us is that they use the company’s 1Tb X3-9070 chips — 232-layer six-plane 3D TLC NAND memory devices with a 2400 MT/s interface and the company’s proprietary Xtacking 3.0 architecture. This 1Tb X3-9070 device boasts an impressive bit density of 15.03 Gb/mm^2 (as revealed by TechInsights), which far exceeds the bit density of 1Tb 3D TLC NAND memory ICs with less than 200 layers. Additionally, it features an ultra-fast 2400 MT/s interface, making it suitable for ultra-high-performance SSDs with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. Earlier this week, Micron introduced its Micron 2550 drives based on its 232-layer six-plane 3D TLC NAND devices that is said to have a 14.6 Gb/mm^2 bit density, which outstrips YMTC’s 232-layer 3D TLC ICs in terms of bit density. However, Micron’s ICs currently shipped have a 1600 MT/s interface, which is good enough for mainstream drives but not fast enough for ultra-high performance SSDs with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. Therefore, while YMTC is not the only company to mass produce 3D NAND with over 200 layers, it is the first company that is mass producing memory with a 2400 MT/s I/O. This will likely not last long though as Micron plans to initiate production of 232-layer 3D NAND with a 2400 MT/s interface in early 2023.

(Sources: ITHome, ymtc)