Samsung's flash memory is fabricated using an innovative 3D V-NAND architecture, which stacks 32 cell layers on top of one another rather than trying to decrease the cells' length and width to fit today's shrinking form factors. The result is higher density and higher performance using a smaller footprint and a breakthrough in overcoming the density limits of conventional planar NAND architecture.
Powered by Samsung's cutting-edge 3D V-NAND technology, the NAND flash memory delivers the ultimate in read and write performance in both sequential and random aspects. This is especially impressive in the 128 GB model* that outperforms similar models on the market by more than 100 MB/s in write speed.
* 850 PRO 128 GB Sequential Write speed: 470 MB/s
You can kick up the read/write performance on every capacity when you need it with the RAPID mode. Just like shifting gears in a car, Magician software gives you the option to enhance performance by processing data on a system level using free PC memory (DRAM) as a cache, providing 1.8 times faster performance in the RAPID mode*.
* PCMark Vantage score (512 GB): 53K > 97K(in RAPID mode)
With twice the endurance of the previous model*, the 850 PRO will keep working as long as you do. Samsung's V-NAND technology is built to handle 150 Terabytes Written (TBW) which equates to a 40 GB daily read/write workload over a 10-year period. Plus, it comes with the industry's top-level ten-year limited warranty.
* 840 PRO: 73 TBW > 850 PRO: 150 TBW
The efficient, power management components in the 850 PRO enable you work longer and more productively. Boasting the lowest power consumption of any SSD when in full use, the 850 PRO expends less energy while maintaining market-leading performance. The 850 PRO fully supports the sleep mode on the Ultrabook™, consuming only 2 m watts of power. Plus, its LPDDR2 cache memory provides higher performance while consuming 30 percent less power when active and 93 percent less power when idle than typical DDR2 or DDR3 memory.
Protect your PC's hardware and personal data when you take your laptop on the road with the 850 PRO's SED technology. The drive includes an AES-256-bit hardware-based, full disk encryption engine that secures your data without performance degradation, often experienced with software-based encryption.
The 850 PRO's advanced security complies with the TCG™ Opal v2.0 standards, protecting PSID, and is compatible with the Microsoft® eDrive IEEE® 1667 protocol. Plus, you can erase or initialize data with the crypto erase service.
The 850 PRO includes Dynamic Thermal Guard protection, which keeps your PC performance safe from overheating. Dynamic Thermal Guard protection monitors and maintains the drive's optimal operating temperature with a throttle feature that automatically drops the SSD's temperature when necessary to protect your data and ensure the responsiveness you expect.
Using its One-stop Install Navigator software, you can migrate all the data and applications from your SSD or HDD to the 850 PRO quickly and easily. The Auto Install guide navigates you through the simple three-step process.
Breaking Through the 10nm Process Barrier
with Innovative 3D V-NAND Technology
Worldwide data transferal continues to grow at an explosive rate. The amount of data being shared by average users on a daily basis is at an all-time high:
Even semiconductor and memory chip development add to this increase in data sharing. Currently, these fields account for the transferal of approximately 4 Exabytes of data per month. However, that number is projected to increase to 10 Exabytes per month in 2016. Improvements must be made to existing memory to rise to the challenge of such rapid data growth.
Samsung's new 3D V-NAND will be used for a wide range of consumer electronics and enterprise applications, including solid state drives (SSDs). Consumers can expect their handheld computers to perform better for longer periods of time between charges. Datacenter managers can expect increased productivity and longevity while saving on their power bill.
Over the past 15 years, NAND Flash memory cell structure has gone from 120nm scale to 19nm scale. Along with this drastically shrinking structure, capacity has grown by 100 times. Just how is Samsung V-NAND Flash memory able to offer 100 times the capacity in only 1/10th the same area? That's where the V in V-NAND comes in, as Samsung stacks the cells vertically.
Samsung's three-dimensional Vertical NAND Flash memory (3D V-NAND) breaks free of the scaling limit for existing NAND Flash technology. Samsung has developed a new structure through its first 24-layer V-NAND.
Shrinking is a fundamental technological advancement in almost any field, but it gains significant importance in memory engineering. As memory structures shrink, so do the multitude of mobile devices people worldwide use on a daily basis. Samsung has committed considerable resources and effort toward researching and developing shrinking advancements while also working to mitigate the two biggest problems inherent in shrinking technology.
Cell-to-Cell Interference
When an electric charge flows into one cell, an electric charge flows into a neighboring cell (known as the coupling effect). This extraneous charge to the neighboring cell actually changes the stored data, resulting in corruption of that data. This interference does not occur when the space between cells is greater than 30nm, but as that space shrinks smaller than 20nm, the chance for cell-to-cell interference increases.
Patterning
Patterning is a manufacturing technology developed for photolithography to enhance density. The patterning process allows for geometries half as wide as the scanner is capable of printing, but it has its limits within the 10nm process range.
Samsung has developed and applied a variety of technologies to prevent both data-corrupting interference and the limits of patterning. 3D V-NAND replaces 2D Planar NAND's conductor with an insulator that allows cells to hold their charges after writing data. Due to its vertical cell arrangement, Samsung's 3D V-NAND features a wider bit line, effectively removing cell-to-cell interference.
Stacking the vertical layers in three dimensions allowed for 24-layer products in 2013 and has increased to 32-layer products in June of 2014. Using stacking instead of photolithography to increase capacity eliminated the patterning limitation.
Plus, you can conveniently monitor, manage and maintain your 850 PRO with the Samsung Magician software, which features tools to help you maximize performance, including benchmarking, advanced OS optimization, disk health status tracking and over-provisioning (OP) settings.