New single-package ball grid array (BGA) SSDs accommodate up to 512GB¹ in the world’s smallest 16mm × 20mm NVMe SSD form factor²

IRVINE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — August 3, 2016 — Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, will showcase its new BG series solid state drive (SSD) family featuring cutting-edge BiCS FLASH™ with 3-bit-per-cell TLC (triple-level cell) technology and Toshiba’s new single-package ball grid array (BGA) NVMe PCI Express® (PCIe®) Gen3 x2 SSD at the 2016 Flash Memory Summit held in Santa Clara, California between August 8 - 11. Delivering a smaller footprint³, lower power consumption⁴ and better performance⁵ than traditional storage options, the BG SSD series is purpose-built for the future wave of ultra-thin mobile PCs, including 2-in-1 convertible notebooks and tablets.

With a surface area 95 percent smaller than conventional 2.5-inch SATA storage devices and 82 percent smaller than M.2 Type 2280⁶, the Toshiba BG series condenses both the controller and NAND flash memory in a single 16mm x 20mm BGA package enabling device manufacturers to prioritize features like battery capacity for longer operating times. The BG series is also available mounted on a M.2 Type 2230⁷ module for applications requiring socketed storage. BG SSDs utilize BiCS FLASH, a three-dimensional (3D) stacked cell structure⁸, making it possible to accommodate up to 512GB of storage capacity in this high-performance and compact form factor. Additionally, the BG series SSDs utilize an in-house Toshiba-developed controller and firmware for a full, vertically developed solution, ensuring technology is tightly integrated for optimal performance, power consumption and reliability.

“We are thrilled to unveil the new BG series with BiCS FLASH which will deliver both a rich feature-set and high performance all within an extremely small footprint and power profile,” said Jeremy Werner, vice president of SSD marketing and product planning at Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. “We expect to be in production this year with BiCS FLASH BGA SSDs, offering our customers a compelling and cost-effective storage solution for the next generation of high performance ultra-thin and light notebooks and tablets.”

To deliver a more compact and power efficient drive, while still delivering excellent performance in client workloads, the BG series implements the latest NVMe standard Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature which will be showcased during the 2016 Flash Memory Summit as a reference exhibition. HMB allocates and employs host DRAM for flash management purposes in contrast to alternative solutions that contain costly and power-hungry dedicated DRAM to perform similar functions. Host Memory Buffer technology can enable increased performance over solutions without DRAM by storing lookup data on host memory to reduce access times for commonly accessed data.

The Toshiba BG SSD Family will be available in 128GB, 256GB or 512GB capacities in both a 16mm x 20mm package (M.2 Type 1620) or a removable M.2 Type 2230 module. Samples of Toshiba BGA SSDs are initially available for limited PC OEM customers, and will be available for other customers to develop with in the fourth calendar quarter of 2016.

For more information on Toshiba’s line of storage solutions and NAND Flash Memory solutions, please visit: http://toshiba.semicon-storage.com. To connect with Toshiba Storage, follow @ToshibaStorage on Twitter.

About Toshiba Corp. and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)

Through proven commitment, lasting relationships and advanced, reliable electronic components, Toshiba enables its customers to create market-leading designs. Toshiba is the heartbeat within product breakthroughs from OEMs, ODMs, CMs, VARs, distributors and fabless chip companies worldwide. A committed electronic components leader, Toshiba designs and manufactures high-quality flash memory-based storage solutions, solid state drives (SSDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), discrete devices, custom SoCs/ASICs, imaging products, microcontrollers, wireless components, mobile peripheral devices, advanced materials and medical tubes that make possible today’s leading smartphones, tablets, cameras, medical devices, automotive electronics, industrial applications, enterprise solutions and more.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, Japan’s largest semiconductor, solid state drive and hard disk drive manufacturer and the world’s seventh largest semiconductor manufacturer (Gartner, 2015 Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue, January, 2016). Founded in Tokyo in 1875, Toshiba is at the heart of a global network of over 550 consolidated companies employing over 188,000 people worldwide. Visit Toshiba's web site at http://toshiba.semicon-storage.com.

BiCS FLASH is a trademark of Toshiba Corporation.
PCIe and PCI Express is registered trademark of PCI-SIG

© 2016 Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. All rights reserved. Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications.

¹ Definition of capacity: Toshiba defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1TB = 2⁴⁰ = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary

² As of August 3, 2016, Toshiba survey

³ Compared to M.2 Type 2280-S2

⁴ Compared to Toshiba’s existing SATA SSD devices

⁵ Compared to SATA SSD devices in the aspect of sequential read performance

⁶ M.2 Type 2280-S2

⁷ M.2 Type 2230-S3 and M.2 Type 2230-S4

⁸ A structure stacking flash memory cells vertically on a silicon substrate to realize significant density improvements over planar NAND flash memory, where cells are formed on the silicon substrate.

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