Samsung has announced that it has produced the first 40-nanometer (nm) memory device.  This new 32Gb 40nm flash device incorporates “Charge Trap Flash” (CTF) architecture, which improves both performance and manufacturing efficiency.  This new architecture greatly decreases inter-cell noise by replacing the normal floating gate technology with what Samsung calls “TANOS” which is comprised of tantalum (metal), aluminum oxide (high k material), nitride, oxide and silicon.  The lower noise levels will allow the technology to be further scaled to as small as 20nm.

Samsung’s 32Gb devices will be used in devices ranging from 4GB to a tremendous 64GB!  That’s up to 64 Hours of DVD quality video or over 1,300 Hours of MP3 audio. Expect to see the new more efficient CTF devices begin to replace current floating gate systems over the next year.  With these new chips expected to potentially hit 256Gb meaning up to 512GB memory cards, this is a huge step towards PC’s with purely solid state storage drives.