Mannerisms

Samsung is into mass production of 64GB SSDs made by putting 64 8Gb single level cell (SLC) NAND flash chips into an 1.8 inch form factor and reckons the SSD market will grow at 270 per cent per year for the next three years.

However, if two-bit-per-cell flash were to be used then, obviously, 64 16Gb multi-level cell (MLC) flash chips of the sort made by SanDisk, Toshiba and Hynix, could deliver 128GB SSDs in the same 1.8 inch factor.

And if the Quadbit, 4-bit-per-cell NAND flash made by Spansion, and licensed by Saifun, is used then, theoretically, 64 32Gb chips would deliver 256GB SSDs in the same 1.8 inch form factor.

So the potential really serious solid state storage capacity is there, so long as the flash manufacturers think it worthwhile pursuing.

And a 270 per cent annual growth market looks reasonably worthwhile.

Presumably the cost between SLC, MLC and Quadbit based SSDs won't be all that much, because chips based on each technology will all use approximately the same silicon area at any given process generation..

The snag with MLC and Quadbit is going to be speed. But there are system engineering fixes to reduce the effects of the inherently lower speeds of the multi-bit-per-cell technologies.

A catalyst for solid state storage may well be the adoption of other form factors than the current SSD format which follows the HDD form factor. When laptops are designed from scratch with the use of solid state storage exclusively in mind from day one, then the flash chips can be built into the laptop in innovative space-saving ways.

This could result in some exciting stuff. A serious PC which is genuinely pocketable is such a nice thought.

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