Three leading chipmakers are jumping into the NAND flash game: Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and STMicroelectronics N.V., which have formed a joint venture to produce the chips; and Micron Technology Inc., which taped out a 2Gbit NAND device this month. Other flash makers"Intel, Silicon Storage Technology (SST), and Sharp"are eschewing NAND while developing versions of their NOR-based code storage products that will execute data storage functions. Another NOR flash manufacturer, FASL LLC Spansion (the alliance of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Fujistu Ltd.) is researching NAND but said it has made no commitment to the technology.

At the same time, Infineon Technologies A.G. is entering the flash data storage arena with its NROM flash technology as part of an alliance with Saifun Semiconductor of Israel. Infineon is sampling chips now, with production slated for the first half of 2004 at its 200mm-wafer fab in Dresden, Germany.

The rush of newcomers is being fueled by the booming market for NAND, and prospects that the constantly increasing storage needs of digital still cameras, cell phone cameras, Internet wireless handsets, and flash cards will continue unchecked.

Alan Niebel, an analyst with Web-Feet Research Inc., Monterey, Calif., said that feature-rich mobile phones requiring flash data storage are expected to jump from 32% of all cellular handsets sold this year to 69% by 2008. Smart phones, which require even higher levels of data storage, will grow from 5% of the cell phone market in 2003 to 19% in 2008, according to Niebel.

Jim Handy, nonvolatile-memory analyst at Semico Research Corp. in Los Gatos, Calif., said if every flash data storage supplier ramps production as scheduled, shortages could evaporate in the second half of 2004 and the market could head into oversupply.

The scheduled production ramp does appear to be aggressive.

Micron declined to set a timetable for commercial introduction of its 2Gbit NAND chip, but analysts estimate the chipmaker could start sampling before the end of 2004.

"Considering the NAND market projections, Micron is excited about the growth potential and the addition of NAND to its product offerings. NAND represents a great opportunity for Micron," said a spokeswoman for the Boise, Idaho, company.

Hynix and ST are both sampling their first 512Mbit NAND chip to select customers, and hope to have initial production in the first quarter of 2004. The companies' NAND flash is being produced at a Hynix fab in South Korea.

Incumbent NAND vendors are ramping up their own production as fast as possible. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is said to have diverted an unspecified percentage of its vast DRAM capacity to NAND flash manufacturing. Flash partners Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp. are pushing NAND production to higher levels, as well as moving up by a year the planned construction of a 300mm-wafer fab for NAND chips to 2005. And Renesas Technology Corp. is expanding the production capacity of its flash data storage architecture, known as AND flash.

NOR flash vendors are also taking aim at data storage functions, especially in lower-end digital camera cell phones.

Intel is sampling its StrataFlash Wireless Memory System, a multichip package combining a 256Mbit NOR for code execution with a 256Mbit NOR for data storage. Production will be launched in February 2004, according to a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara, Calif., company. Intel has no plans to make NAND flash, she added.

SST is another NOR flash vendor looking to expand its technology to handle data storage with a 2Gbit NOR chip under development in conjunction with Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. of Taiwan, which will act as the foundry.

Bing Yeh, president and chief executive of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SST, said the two companies are developing the 2Gbit NOR flash at Powerchip's Hsinchu fab complex to be produced in a 300mm-wafer fab using 0.11-micron process technology. The target for sampling is 2004, with mass production the following year.

Yeh said Powerchip would be able to sell the 2Gbit NOR flash storage chip under its own label, and will pay royalties to SST. This will provide customers with a dual source for the high-density chip, he said.

FASL LLC Spansion, meanwhile, is targeting its 512Mbit NOR flash for cell phones with basic data storage needs, and expects feature-rich handsets to use external NAND flash cards for high levels of data storage.

"Our main focus is on NOR, using our MirrorBit technology for both code execution and data storage solutions," said John Nation, marketing manager for Spansion Memory Solutions.

FASL hasn't given up on NAND entirely, however. The company makes a tiny quantity of 64Mbit NAND, the legacy of a discarded plan to enter that market in 1998.

By: DocMemory
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