Phison Electronics will adopt United Microelectronics' (UMC) 55nm process for the production of its PS2251-08 controller ICs for flash drives set to roll out in 2015, according to the memory controller IC supplier.

The new flash drive controller supports the latest generation 1Ynm/1Znm MLC (multi-level cell) and TLC (triple-level cell) NAND flash memory, Phison said. The controller chip offers sequential read and write speeds of 400MB/s and 300MB/s, respectively, and up to 128GB of storage capacity.

At the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Phison has showcased its new PS3110 SSD controller that suports TLC NAND flash. Samples of the solution will be delivered to customers in the first quarter of 2015, with volume production slated to kick off early in the second quarter, according to the company.

Phison said the PS3110 supports quad-core CPUs and has a complete data path protection providing fault-tolerant design and with smart ECC debug functionality.

The PS3110 will be built at UMC using a 55nm manufacturing process. Nevertheless, Phison is gearing up to transition to 28nm process production for its SSD controller chips in 2015, according to company sources.

Khein-Seng Pua, chairman for Phison, was quoted as saying in a December 3 interview that the company's upcoming PS5007 will target the PCIe SSD market and will be fabricated on a 28nm process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).