1991 Starting from the core

Nowadays, the largest capacity of flash memory particles can reach 8MB per particle. In theory, a thumb-sized USB flash drive can fit two or even four of them, but the price also rises proportionally.

At present, NAND particles are mainly produced by Intel and Micron, and are extremely expensive. The application scenarios are mostly used in places where disk reading speed is required, so it is generally regarded as the core storage medium of "high-end hard drives".

As for USB flash drives, this kind of device is obviously designed to replace floppy disks. The cost alone has nailed its popularity.

Therefore, Jiang Tao was very depressed...

…

"Senior Brother Jiang Tao is probably the happiest after we have mastered the craftsmanship this time, right?" Su Yuanshan recovered his thoughts and asked with a smile.

"Yeah, but he suffered a loss last time, and now he feels like he was bitten by a snake once and was afraid of the well rope for ten years." Li Mingliu also smiled: "And their finances are already independent, without Zhongxin's blood transfusion, Life has not been very good recently - how about acquiring him?"

"Um... let's forget it. If we take over the seniority, it won't be messy?"

Jiang Tao's Yuanzhong Microelectronics is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongxin, Zhongxin is a joint venture of Yuanxin, and Jiang Tao is the earliest employee of Yuanxin... If this is taken over... Let's not talk about the share issue. Just because of this seniority, it’s hard to argue.

Moreover, Su Yuanshan also hopes that more excellent professional chip design companies can emerge. He does not establish a Concern Trust, so there is no need to bring all teams under Yuanxin.

"Then you have to cheer him up. I've seen him get angry recently." Li Mingliu smiled: "At the beginning, they were developing control chips at the same time as us. They thought they could open up a new market and win a slice of the market. The Red Sea is being ruthlessly ravaged by reality... If you ignore him, I think he will pick on you."

Su Yuanshan was speechless.

But... think about it, this is really what happened - Jiang Tao and Li Mingliu had a clear division of labor at the beginning, and the research and development was carried out under the arrangement of Su Yuanshan. Now the results from Jiang Tao's side have come out, but the market doesn't accept it.

If Su Yuanshan doesn't care, it will definitely not be justified.

"It's okay. When the MLC architecture NAND chips come off the production line, the USB flash drive will take off immediately!"

"Yeah, that's what I said too."

…

As Li Mingliu returned to the science and technology park, Su Yuanshan did not go to the wafer factory immediately. Instead, he went to the design center to cheer everyone up. Then he was blocked in Li Mingliu's office by Jiang Tao, who had heard the news.

It can be seen that Senior Brother Jiang is really a little anxious and angry recently.

"Xiaoshan." Seeing that there were only Su Yuanshan and Li Mingliu in the office and no outsiders, Jiang Tao closed the door directly and said anxiously: "You said this USB flash drive as if it was about to revolutionize the life of floppy disks and even CDs. Now it's better... We have been doing this for more than a year..."

"Brother, don't worry, didn't I say at that time that flash memory chips need to be matched with a multi-layer architecture to be cost-effective? And who asked you to buy so many single-layer SLC chips? It's not like you don't know about Intel's stuff, it's expensive... …”

"...Didn't I listen to what you said, do you like this thing..." Jiang Tao looked helpless: "It's been a month, except for colleagues who bought some and then gave some away. Some big computer stores took it. Even if we take some of the best products, we can’t sell them at all. And there are still people trying to grab the patent from us... claiming that they have also invented a flash drive based on the USB interface."

"Well, it's okay." Su Yuanshan smiled and comforted: "When the MLC particles here come out, the cost will be reduced immediately - right, Lao Li?"

Li Mingliu nodded: "The architecture used for tape-out this time is still a 2D architecture, but even so, the capacity cost per unit wafer area has been reduced by half. When the process of the 3D architecture matures, we can stack as much as we need. How many."

Jiang Tao was startled when he heard this!

Over the past year or so, he has been cooperating with Li Mingliu's team in various ways, and he also knows that Li Mingliu and the others have been working towards multi-layer stacking after they figured out the MLC architecture.

If we take a room as an example, Intel's current SLC chip is a separate room for one person. Then MLC particles divided this room into two single rooms to accommodate two people.

The so-called 2D architecture refers to the fact that this house is a bungalow. 3D architecture means buildings - they can be stacked infinitely.

If that's the case, an SLC flash memory particle that is currently no more than 8MB may be able to reach 128MB, 512MB or even more in the future - as long as the manufacturing process and technology can keep up!

Now according to Li Mingliu, has he figured out the 3D architecture?

"Done?" Jiang Tao asked tentatively.

Li Mingliu smiled, but did not give an accurate positive answer: "The architecture used for tape-out now uses the most advanced 0.5 micron process, so the capacity can reach a single particle of 32MB - and the cost is only A little more expensive than Intel’s.”

Jiang Tao jumped up suddenly: "Holy crap! Doesn't that mean we can take off directly?"

"Then next year...if everything goes well, maybe a single chip can reach 64MB, or more."

…

…

Watching Jiang Tao leave happily, Su Yuanshan and Li Mingliu couldn't help but smile and shake their heads.

It can be seen that without the blood transfusion of Zhongxin, Yuanzhong Microelectronics... indeed has a long way to go.

Of course, Yuanzhong Microelectronics has always put its treasure on the USB drive, which has objectively put them under a lot of pressure. Now that he heard that the cost of USB flash drives could drop exponentially, Jiang Tao naturally became happy.

It's just that... he forgot that to promote a new device with a new interface, in addition to the price, there must be conceptual promotion.

"Tell me how to solve the main difficulties of 3D architecture."

Su Yuanshan stopped laughing and turned serious.

——This is the real purpose of his coming here.

As the boss of Yuanxin, he can only focus on the results, but as an engineer, he must pay attention to the specific technical implementation.

It is an undoubted fact that Li Mingliu is a genius in the field of integrated circuit design.

But Su Yuanshan is still curious about how he solves various problems in multi-layer architecture.

Because even Su Yuanshan didn't know how to implement a multi-layer architecture in the field of flash memory chip design.

He is engaged in CPU, and he can only use FINFET architecture.

"Actually, the logic is very simple. The main thing is process implementation." Li Mingliu turned on the computer, called up EDA, and began to explain to Su Yuanshan.

As Li Mingliu explained, Su Yuanshan's eyes gradually lit up.

"Very good, Lao Li!"

Su Yuanshan slowly clenched his fists and exhaled deeply.

"The next step is to add fire to our USB interface."

"Why not find an application environment for flash memory chips?" Li Mingliu asked: "For example... I know that you have been thinking about doing some actions on your mobile phone."

"Haha, don't worry about that."

Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and his eyes fell on Li Mingliu's CD player.

"Lao Li, do you use a Walkman to listen to music?"