New progress of Micron storage
Latest update time：2021-02-02
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Earlier this month, Micron released its first quarter financial report for fiscal year 2021 ending December 3. The report shows that the company's revenue in this quarter reached US$5.77 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%. Net income increased by 63.5% year-on-year to US$803 million. According to Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron, at the earnings conference: "The revenue growth rate of the memory and storage industry has exceeded that of the entire semiconductor industry, from about 10% in early 2000 to nearly 30% now."
Mr. Sumit Sadana, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Micron, also told a reporter from Semiconductor Industry Observer at a recent media conference that looking forward to the next decade, we can see that the growth of the semiconductor industry will be faster than the global GDP growth. Especially in the storage industry including DRAM and NAND Flash, this growth demand will be higher. This is mainly driven by new trends such as cloud, edge intelligence, 5G infrastructure, industrial Internet of Things and connected cars.
Global storage market forecast for 2021
"This will create a lot of new opportunities for Micron," added Sumit Sadana.
Extensive product portfolio
As we all know, Micron is a company famous for its storage technology, especially DRAM products, which are an important reliance for Micron to dominate the storage market. According to the company's latest quarterly financial report, DRAM contributed about 70% of revenue (about US$4.056 billion), which not only includes the DDR and LPDDR products that everyone is familiar with, but also launched new products such as LPDDR5. Micron also has technologies such as HBM2E and GDDR, among which the GDDR6X recently launched for the high bandwidth requirements of AI and GPU has set a record.
In September 2020, Micron collaborated with NVIDIA, a leader in graphics computing technology, to introduce GDDR6X in the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processors (GPUs) for the first time. According to Micron, the company's engineers and researchers have been exploring the application of multi-level signaling technology in memory interfaces since 2006. After applying for 45 patents, Micron was the first to apply PAM4 in memory, setting a new benchmark for the next generation of graphics memory.
Micron said that by adopting PAM4 multi-level signal technology, their GDDR6X achieves faster data transmission and doubles the input/output (I/O) data rate. From their introduction, we know that before, the memory bandwidth was up to 64 GB/s. The traditional binary standard relies on two-level signals to transmit data encoded as 1s or 0s, and one bit of data can be transmitted per cycle. Micron's new PAM4 technology uses four different levels to input and output two bits of data to the memory at the same time. As a result, Micron's GDDR6X significantly increases the memory bandwidth of a single particle to 84 GB/s, thereby increasing the system bandwidth to the previously unimaginable 1 TB/s.
In addition, GDDR6X achieves lower single-task energy consumption (pJ/bit), which meets high-energy workloads such as games and other high-bandwidth graphics applications through faster speeds and lower power consumption. GDDR6X also has the function of adjusting power consumption, so users can lower performance to save energy.
NAND Flash is Micron's second largest revenue source. According to the financial report, revenue from this business unit accounts for 27% of the company's total revenue (about $1.574 billion). This is mainly due to the company's layout in QLC NAND. This is another "killer weapon" of Micron storage.
Readers familiar with the storage industry should know that NAND Flash has four architectures, namely SLC, MLC, TLC and QLC, which represent 1, 2, 3 and 4 bits of data stored in a storage unit. Among them, the LC storage unit stores more metadata, and consumers can get more capacity at a lower price! But the cost is reduced performance and life, so most flash memory companies currently choose TLC. However, Micron said that the company's advanced QLC technology has overcome the problem of high SSD costs and retained strong performance. Whether it is real-time analysis, machine learning or artificial intelligence applications, QLC NAND will become the most effective helper.
Financial data shows that in the second fiscal quarter of 2020, Micron's QLC SSD bit shipments increased by 60% month-on-month, and a considerable portion of consumer SSDs are now shipped using QLC technology. This shows that Micron's QLC NAND Flash technology has become more recognized in the market.
In addition to the above two products, Micron also has 3D XPoint. According to Micron, they are the only company in the market that has DRAM, NAND Flash and 3D Xpoint storage product lines at the same time. The so-called 3D XPoint is a technology designed to fill the gap in the storage market between dynamic DRAM and NAND flash memory.
In October 2019, Micron finally launched the Micron X100 SSD, which is known as the world's fastest SSD. This is a breakthrough in the field of non-volatile memory using 3D XPoin technology. According to them, this product had high-performance local storage, the industry's highest bandwidth, ultra-low latency, application acceleration, high performance in small storage, and easy adoption. Although the sales of this product are not satisfactory, according to multiple sources, Micron will continue to invest in it and expand it to more areas.
In terms of storage, Micron also has technologies such as Nor Flash. These high-performance products are applied to multiple fields such as automobiles. In order to protect the safety of customers, Micron also provides industry-leading security technologies. For example, the Authenta technology provided by Micron allows Micron to work with different partners in the ecosystem to ensure that the devices are safe when deployed on a large scale and will not be affected by hackers or network security and network threats.
New storage technology unveiled
The company has been able to maintain its leading position in the storage field for many years due to its deep technical accumulation and the launch of cost-effective products in response to market demand. For example, Micron's recent launch of new NAND Flash and DRAM technologies has prepared them for a new era of data explosion.
First, let's look at NAND Flash. As mentioned in many articles, in order to improve the storage density of NAND Flash, industry manufacturers have moved from 2D NAND to 3D NAND over the past few years, and in recent years, the number of layers and density of 3D NAND Flash have been further improved. In November 2020, Micron announced that it had shipped the world's first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory in batches, which once again broke the industry record.
According to reports, this 176-layer NAND product uses Micron's fifth-generation 3D NAND technology and second-generation replacement gate architecture, and is the most advanced NAND technology node on the market. Compared with Micron's previous generation of large-capacity 3D NAND products, the 176-layer NAND reduces data read and write delays by more than 35%, greatly improving application performance. (Comparison data is based on Micron's large-capacity floating gate 96-layer NAND. Compared with 128-layer replacement gate NAND, Micron's 176-layer NAND product has reduced data read and write delays by more than 25%). Because of its compact design, the die size of Micron's 176-layer NAND is nearly 30% smaller than the closest similar product on the market, making it an ideal solution for meeting small-size application needs.
"Micron's 176-layer NAND sets a new benchmark for the flash memory industry, with nearly 40 percent more layers than the closest competitor," said Scott DeBoer, executive vice president of technology and products at Micron. "Combined with Micron's CMOS-under-array architecture, this technology helps Micron continue to lead the industry in cost."
At the same time, Micron also transitioned NAND cell technology from traditional floating gate to charge capture, improving the scalability and performance of future NAND. In addition to charge capture technology, Micron also adopted a replacement gate architecture, using highly conductive metal word lines to replace the silicon layer to achieve outstanding 3D NAND performance. After adopting this technology, Micron will significantly reduce costs and continue to lead the industry.
Secondly, looking at DRAM, in order to further improve its density, power consumption and performance, Micron took the lead in the industry in launching 1α DRAM process technology.
According to reports, Micron's 1α node continues to use the 6F2 bitline design. But the company has implemented many innovations to shrink its DRAM using the latest manufacturing processes. From the data, as shown in the figure above, compared with its previous generation 1z DRAM process, Micron's 1α technology increases memory density by 40%, and can also make memory solutions more energy-efficient and reliable, and bring faster LPDDR5 to mobile platforms that require the best low-power DRAM products. According to Micron, 1α technology can provide the mobile industry with the lowest power DRAM platform, achieving 15% energy savings, allowing 5G users to perform more tasks on their mobile phones without sacrificing battery life.
Micron pointed out that the 1α advanced memory node provides 8Gb to 16Gb density, which will help extend the life cycle of Micron's existing DDR4 and LPDDR4 series products, and provide Micron's customers in the server, client, network and embedded fields with lower power consumption, more reliable products and more comprehensive product support, thereby reducing customers' re-verification costs. For application scenarios such as automotive embedded solutions, industrial PCs and edge servers with longer product life cycles, Micron's 1α process also guarantees a more advantageous total cost of ownership throughout the system life cycle.
About shortages, EUV and other
In the storage industry, in addition to shortages, price increases, and capacity planning, the adoption of EUV by the DRAM industry is another focus. Micron's Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana answered these questions one by one at a recent media conference.
First, regarding the storage shortage, Sumit Sadana responded that at the beginning of the epidemic, Micron found that the demand from the automotive industry or the smartphone industry was declining. But later, they saw that the demand in this area also recovered significantly. Now, Micron sees that for semiconductor equipment, automotive customers, PC customers, and client equipment production customers, they all have very strong demand. This also affects the supply and demand balance of storage products.
"We do have a shortage in some of our DRAM business, and some operations have been affected. For example, in the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year, we have seen price increases for some DRAM products. Throughout the 2021 calendar year, we believe that this rising demand trend will only continue, so the tight supply will also continue, because the entire market is in a state of supply exceeding demand," Sumit Sadana told reporters.
He also said that the situation is different in NAND technology. He pointed out that the current supply of NAND in the market is still sufficient. However, as prices fluctuate, Micron believes that NAND products in this area will also have price elasticity, but the market will adjust itself, and NAND production capacity will also adjust accordingly. Looking at 2021, Micron believes that NAND production capacity will also stabilize.
When asked about Micron's plan to introduce EUV lithography into DRAM, Sumit Sadana emphasized that Micron has been continuously evaluating EUV technology and is also working with manufacturers of EUV base tools. But it is still in the research and development mode. The company's current attitude towards EUV is to evaluate when is the best time - the most cost-effective and economical node, at which time Micron can incorporate EUV technology into the company's product portfolio.
But he also pointed out that Micron has always been able to lead the industry's technology, especially in the use of multi-patterning immersion lithograph, so we can be more cost-effective in the DRAM sector at different nodes.
"The company's technology in multiple-pattern immersion lithography is very mature, so we don't think it is necessary to introduce EUV technology too early," emphasized Sumit Sadana.
When talking about the potential impact of the rise of Chinese storage companies, Sumit Sadana said that Micron is also keeping an eye on this. He also pointed out that the company needs to pay attention not only to the development of competitors' technology, but also to their process technology, whether they can be mass-produced, how reliable the mass production is, and whether they can meet the quality expectations and requirements of customers.
In order to better meet the market demand for storage, Micron hopes to continue to invest capital to develop the company's storage industry. Part of the capital expenditure supports them to build more wafer fab space and more clean rooms, because each new generation of technology will use more and more tools and machines. Only in this way can Micron achieve the goal of all wafers being produced in the best condition. In addition, part of Micron's capital expenditure will be used to expand some of Micron's internal packaging and testing facilities.
With the booming development of emerging applications, a new era of storage has officially emerged. The new market competition landscape has brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to suppliers. Micron seems to be fully prepared.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally written by the author. The content of the article is the author's personal opinion. Semiconductor Industry Observer reprints it only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Observer agrees or supports this point of view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Observer.
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