Samsung Electronics, the No. 1 memory semiconductor company, will mass-produce the world’s first 10-nanometer 5th generation (nm, 1 nm is 1 billionth of a meter)-class DRAM next year, and develop 1000-layer V-NAND by 2030. It is a statement to widen the ‘big gap’ with technological capability against competitors who are chasing them.
At the Samsung Tech Day held at the Signia Hotel in San Jose, USA on the 5th (current time), Lee Jung-bae, president of the memory business division of Samsung Electronics, said, “Half of the total storage capacity of 1 trillion GB (gigabytes) of memory which Samsung Electronics has created over the past 40 years. Digital transformation is proceeding rapidly as the above has been achieved over the past three years. A total of 800 people, including information technology companies ( IT) worldwide, to the event.
Technology development plan ahead of competitors
The announcement of the next generation product roadmap on the same day by Samsung Electronics’ memory division was a place that showed its confidence as the world’s No. In particular, the plan for next year’s mass production of 5th generation 10-nano class DRAM, which was unveiled for the first time in the industry, received the most attention. The plan is to make the circuit gaps (line width) within the semiconductor as narrow as 10 nm, which is 1/10,000 of the thickness of a human hair. The narrower the line width, the more semiconductor manufacturers can do on a single wafer, which can increase production efficiency. Competitors are currently producing 4th generation 14-nano class DRAM. Under this circumstance, Samsung Electronics is one step ahead of its competitors by unveiling its 10nm class DRAM mass production plan to which 5th generation technology is applied.
In addition, by applying high-K metal gate process technology (HKMG), the company intends to overcome the limitations of product miniaturization. The company explains that by applying the HKMG process, high performance can be realized even at low voltage and power consumption can be reduced by 13% compared to the current process by increasing power efficiency.
In the field of V-NAND, the will to widen the gap with competitors was revealed. Samsung Electronics announced plans to mass-produce 9th-generation V-NAND by 2024 and develop 1000-layer V-NAND by 2030. Currently, Samsung Electronics is producing 7th-generation 176-layer V-NAND. Competitors such as SK Hynix and Micron have unveiled 200-layer or more V-NAND technology this year and have engaged in ‘one-level competition’ by stacking data storage cells high. In this situation, Samsung Electronics differentiated itself by revealing a technology development plan to build up to 1000 layers.
This year, it plans to mass produce 1TB (terabyte) TLC (Triple Level Cell) products of the 8th generation V-NAND based on the world’s highest capacity. TLC is a technology that can store up to 3 bits in a single cell. In addition, Samsung Electronics unveiled an 8th generation V-NAND 512GB (gigabyte) TLC product that improved the number of bits stored per unit area by 42% compared to the 7th generation. The company explains that this is the highest level in the industry.
Number 1 memory semiconductor for 30 years
Samsung Electronics has been leading technology development as the strongest player in the memory semiconductor field. President Lee emphasized in his keynote speech, “Samsung Electronics has maintained its No. 1 position in the memory market for the past 30 years through technological innovation.” According to market research company Omdia, Samsung Electronics was first in the DRAM sector with a global market share of 42.7% (sales US $ 40.1 billion) last year, widening the gap by more than 14 percentage points to SK Hynix (28.6%). In the NAND field, it also holds the Number. The gap with Kioxia No. 2 (18.9% market share) widens by 5 percentage points.
He also expressed confidence over concerns that the recent global economic downturn could reduce demand for memory. Han Jin-man, vice president of Samsung Electronics’ memory business division, said, “We are not discussing production cuts at this time.” Micron and Kioxia recently announced that they would adjust production in case of reduced demand. Even if the global demand for memory semiconductors decreases, it is interpreted that as the No. 1 company, it is currently securing enough demand.
It also maintained a relaxed attitude towards technological competition in the field of NAND memory. One vice president said, “Stacking the cells that store data high is not a big problem.” It is explained that technology that can reinforce the cell so that it does not move from side to side or reduce interference between cells above and below is more important. At the same time, it overwhelms its competitors by revealing a specific plan to develop a 1000 tier by 2030.
Have more than 900 system semiconductors
In the field of system semiconductors, the world’s largest portfolio was emphasized. In a keynote speech at the system semiconductor event held in the morning, Park Yong-in, head of the LSI System Business Unit (President), said, “In the era of the 4th industrial revolution, the importance of system semiconductors that play the role of the human brain, heart, neural network, and vision will be greater than ever.” Samsung Electronics will become a ‘fabless integrated solution’ that organically converges major technologies from various products such as SoC (System on Chip), image sensor, DDI (Splay Driver IC), and modem,” he said.
Samsung Electronics has a portfolio of approximately 900 types of system semiconductor products. While competitors focus on only one or two of these areas, Samsung Electronics has products in all areas of system semiconductors. President Park said, “We will provide a one-stop solution for our customers with over 900 products.”
Advanced system semiconductors were also unveiled at the event. New products such as ‘Exynos Auto V920’, a next-generation vehicle SoC, ‘Exynos 5300 Modem’, a 5G modem, and DDI for OLED quantum dot were displayed on one side of the event hall. Premium mobile AP ‘Exynos 2200’, ‘ISOCELL HP3’, a 200 million pixel image sensor with the smallest pixel size in the industry, and fingerprint authentication IC products for ‘biometric authentication card’ were also available.
Silicon Valley = Reporter Ki-Yeol Seo philos@hankyung.com
