SSD Form Factor has undergone a revolutionary evolution as 3D NAND expands its application and packaging technologies. SSD from the original 2.5-inch form factor to mSATA, M.2 (2280/2260), and then to highly integrated BGA package, its size can be done with embedded products eMMC / UFS equivalent to open the new opportunity of SSD in the mobile for smart terminal market.
BGA SSD’s chip-level development is derived from the needs of higher capacity of 3D NAND. Western Digital / SanDisk was introduced embedded iSSD in 2013, its size is 16mmx20mm. Because at that time Flash mainstream 1xon technology single die capacity is only 64Gb, 128GB SSD requires at least 16 Die stacking, yield and performance cannot be guaranteed. With the development of 3D NAND technology, the 64-layer / 72-layer 3D NAND single die capacity of 512Gb will become the mainstream in 2018, and the 128GB SSD will only need 2 die stacks, yielding a substantial increase in production.
Samsung has introduced BGA SSDs with capacities of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB in 2017. The BG3 series SSDs of Toshiba BGA packages have also been shipped in large quantities by the end of 2017 with sizes of 16mmx20mm. It is noteworthy that the domestic launch of Longsys BGA SSD has smaller size of 11.5mmx13mm and the same size with embedded eMMC / UFS, making BGA SSD expected to open up a new world in the mobile market. In 2018, Samsung is also expected to launch an 11.5mmx13mm BGA SSD. Intel is also planning to launch a BGA-based SSD based on 3D Xpoint technology. A smaller 11.5mmx13mm BGA package has become the benchmark for SSD development.
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