▷ Nand memories: what is it and what are they used for?
Table of contents:
- An exercise in logic
- A type of memory for all kinds of situations
- Vertical NAND and 3D-NAND
- The various applications of NAND memories
If you are a regular Professional Review reader, the name " NAND " is probably not strange to you. Almost always in storage related entries; without going any further, in our last entry on flash drives we mentioned this name, which, by itself, can tell us little. Today we want to shed a little light on the term by describing what NAND memories are and what they are used for.
Index of contents
An exercise in logic
NAND logic gate
Technically, a NAND refers to a logical gate; specifically to one that produces a low (0) when the rest of the outputs are high (1). This property allows any type of basic binary operation to be performed using a combination of such logic gates. A property that shares with the NOR gates. But that is not the meaning we seek in the context of this text.
Image: wikimedia commons; Cyferz
When we talk about NAND referring to the storage units of our equipment, we are talking about NAND memories. NAND (or NAND flash ) memories are a type of non-volatile memory that does not require power to store data. As in the case of NOR flash , it gets its name because the way its transistors are distributed is reminiscent of the logical gate with which it shares a name.
A type of memory for all kinds of situations
The data stored in the NAND memories are stored in different cells and are represented by electrical charges; These cells are made through control gates, or floating point gates, and can store different amounts of information in bits. Depending on this space and the number of read / write cycles that these cells support, we can classify the different types of NAND memories:
- SLC ( Single-level Cell ), store one bit in each cell. Thanks to this they have the highest number of cycles and the highest speed, but it is also very expensive to produce. It usually has industrial applications. MLC ( Multi-level Cell ), store two bits in each cell. Due to this, the reading and writing cycles that this type of memory supports is double that of SLC, but they maintain their speed and are cheaper to produce. They are used in industrial settings, but also in consumer electronics. TLC ( Triple-level Cell ), they store three bits in each cell. It is very common in the domestic market due to its low production cost. They have less durability than MLC or SLC, as well as less speed. QLC ( Quad-level Cell ), store up to four bits per cell. They offer the lowest speed, durability and the lowest production cost.
Vertical NAND and 3D-NAND
The concepts and types of NAND seen so far come, for the most part, from the conception of this type of technology. A few years ago producing a NAND memory storage unit of good capacity, durability and speed was terribly expensive due to the horizontal extension of its DIE. Currently, this expansion is carried out vertically.
Thanks to this method, cells such as MLC or TLC (relatively cheap to produce, but with good speed and durability) can be grouped in large numbers efficiently, managing to produce large capacity storage units without unduly reducing their speed or durability.
Samsung was one of the first companies to use this technology extensively (named by them VNAND), but other industry giants like Micron, or Intel (3D Xpoint) have developed their own versions.
The various applications of NAND memories
NAND flash are found in all types of storage devices in our environment due to their efficiency and high speed; which is why we can find it in both domestic, domestic and business settings.
Kingston KC600 SSD SKC600 / 256G - Internal Hard Drive 2.5 "SATA Rev 3.0, 3D TLC, 256-bit XTS-AES Encryption Remarkable performance; With the most advanced NAND TLC 3D technology; Compatible with a comprehensive security package (TCG Opal, 256-bit AES, eDrive) EUR 57.46 Kingston KC600 SSD SKC600 / 1024G - Internal Solid Hard Drive 2.5 "SATA Rev 3.0, 3D TLC, 256-bit XTS-AES Encryption Remarkable performance; With the most advanced NAND TLC 3D technology; Compatible with a comprehensive security package (TCG Opal, 256-bit AES, eDrive) 154.00 EURVirtually every home-oriented storage device on the market, outside of mechanical disks or optical drives, uses this type of memory. This ranges from smartphones to our SSDs.
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Be that as it may, we hope that this post on what NAND memories are and what they are used for has helped you to better understand this technology, which is so insistent on the devices we use every day.
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