The production of flash memory technology, such as the NAND Flash Memory Chips used in the memory cards in our cameras and other devices is a fascinating and competitive industry to say the very least. With each passing two years, the technology gets smaller and smaller as far as the technology node?s design rule.
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Mr. Moore Had It Right
This is also fascinating since, at a quicker pace, it is following the same trend as Moore?s Law, which predicted back in 1965 that the components would continue to double in integrated circuits every single year for ten years after he noticed how the technology had advanced since 1958. His accurate observation is now the model by which long term research and development planning is determined by the semiconductor industry.
The Mighty Nanometer
Why this is so completely amazing is the incredibly small size that these tiny chips can obtain. The last time the technology scaled to a smaller, more productive state it was 10nm by Samsung. The nanometer is so small that it takes an equation to show it. To give you some idea, however, think of it in terms like this. A metric millimeter is just about the width of a dime?s edge. A micrometer is a thousand times smaller. A single micrometer cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope. However, to get an idea, a dust mite crawling in your bed is about 400 micrometers big. A nanometer is a thousand times smaller than a micrometer. DNA is not quite that small, but almost.
NAND Logic Gate Technology Already Replacing Hard Drives
Our computers can use for their memory both NAND and NOR technology, both are a type of logic gate and both are used in other technologies. Thanks to NAND technology, the breakthrough has been made to scale further down the node design rule. Where this technology is going only the boys with the graphs, slide rules, and big brains know for sure. We consumers can be sure of only one thing. It is going to take us places which we have never dreamed possible. In fact, NAND technology is already beginning to replace hard drives in computer laptops.
Breakthroughs In Manufacturing Make It Possible
The technology of the machines that actually manufacture these astonishingly tiny devices is also ground breaking. Being on the inside of the plants in which NAND Flash Memory Chip technology and its components are manufactured is like being in some futuristic science lab. It is a static free- dirt free zone, which means that everyone has to dress up in clean, white non-static jumpsuits and caps.
A Futuristic Scene In Production Clean Free Zone
The facility itself is one long series of weird corridors and large rectangular rooms with tracks that run along the ceilings for carrying cargo. The entire system of track is an orchestrated design meant to carry FOUP and other materials to different areas and stages of production. FOUP is Front Opened Unified Pod, and is made from a plastic which is manufactured special for the purpose of carrying the 300mm round wafers made from silicon that are filled with little compartments of memory storage space in which we store the picture images we take and the files we save.
Geometry And Lithography Join Together
The most difficult phase in the construction of our memory chips is the lithography phase. This is where machines draw the intricate geometric patterns that make up the memory cells. If this does not sound difficult, try drawing a geometric pattern on a space smaller than the eye can actually see. The flash memory coming out of production is half the size and twice the capacity of the current NAND flash Memory Cards we use today.
In Memory Technology The Battle Is For Space
If you like science fiction movies, you would love to work in a facility that makes the technology that produces the Flash Memory chips upon which we have already become so dependent. I do not believe that Gene Roddenberry could have written the script for this amazing technology.? For thousands of years, man has fought wars to expand his territory. Today, the battle is for smaller areas in which to save our precious moments as NAND technology proves once and for all, that space is the final frontier.
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About Asher ElranFounder of Dynamic Search, practical software engineer and a SEM specialist. Asher is enthusiastic about all things involving CRO, and killer content and has been practicing for over 9 years.
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