Chinese flash memory maker claims breakthrough - QLC NAND matches endurance of TLC NAND

Anton Shilov
·2 min read
Xtacking 3.0 promo image.
Xtacking 3.0 promo image.

Typically, the more charges a NAND flash cell can hold, the less durable it is in terms of program/erase cycles. But 3D NAND material innovations, advancements of NAND controllers, and error correction algorithms can significantly increase the number of P/E cycle a NAND flash cell can sustain. This is what happened with Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s X3-6070 3D QLC device that boasts the endurance of 3D TLC ICs, ITHome reports.

YMTC's X3-6070 3D QLC NAND device belongs to the company's fourth Generation products and features 128 active layers as well as Xtacking 3.0 architecture with a 2400 MT/s interface. While 128 active layers do not seem like a record by today's standards, one of the key part about this 3D QLC NAND device is that the manufacturer claims rather significant endurance of 4,000 program/erase cycles for this IC. The fast interface supported by these devices makes them suitable for the best SSDs featuring a PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 interface.

Back in the day, it was believed that 3D TLC NAND could sustain 1,000 to 3,000 P/E cycles, but advancements of materials, controllers, and ECC methods increased that number to 4,000 P/E cycles and beyond. 3D QLC NAND was originally thought to be capable of 100 to 1,000 P/E cycles, but all makers of memory increased that number, as well. YMTC is perhaps the only company to advertise that its 3D QLC NAND is as durable as 3D TLC NAND, other makers of flash memory are surely also making progress in this direction.

Without any doubt, 4,000 P/E cycles is a great achievement for YMTC's X3-6070 3D QLC NAND memory devices. It remains to be seen how competitive these flash memory ICs are considering the fact that they have 128 active layers, whereas YMTC's competitors offer QLC 3D NAND devices with 176 or more active layers.

YMTC currently uses its X3-6070 3D QLC NAND memory for its PC41Q consumer-grade solid-state drive. This SSD boasts a sequential read/write speed of 5500 MB/s and a data retention period of one year at 30 degrees Celsius, which is on par with TLC solid-state drives. With endurance of 4,000 P/E cycles, Yangtze Memory is looking forward to use 3D QLC NAND flash for enterprise-grade storage devices.