Toshiba Press Release

TOSHIBA ANNOUNCES 2 AND 4 GIGABYTE COMPACTFLASH CARDS FOR DIGITAL CAMERAS AND OTHER CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DEVICES

2GB Cards Available in Standard and High-speed Models; Highest Density 4GB Card Achieved Using 90 Nanometer Multi-Level Cell NAND Flash Technology

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2004 - Further expanding its portfolio of memory solutions for consumer electronics applications, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)* today announced its new highest capacity 4-gigabyte (GB)1 CompactFlash card, and high-speed 2GB CompactFlash card. The new cards, developed by Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba) using 90 nanometer (nm) NAND Flash memory technology, help meet the continually increasing demand for greater capacity and performance in data storage cards for digital cameras, digital camcorders, MP3 players and PDAs, as well as some networking and embedded applications.

“Today’s highest resolution digital cameras offer image sizes greater than 8 million pixels and therefore require more memory card storage capacity per image,” said Brian Kumagai, business development manager for NAND Flash memory at TAEC. “Toshiba’s new high capacity CompactFlash cards are ideally suited for high resolution photo applications. For example, the 4GB card allows the user to store more than 156 uncompressed frames2 at eight megapixels, the highest resolution currently offered by most digital camera manufacturers, or approximately 2,000 eight megapixel images using standard compression ratios2.”

The high density of the new THNCF4G09PG 4GB card is achieved by combining four of Toshiba’s 8-gigabit (Gb)3 multi-level-cell (MLC) components in the matchbook-sized CompactFlash memory card packaging, and the standard 2GB card, designated THNCF2G04PG contains two of the 8Gb MLC components. Toshiba’s 8Gb MLC NAND Flash memory is currently composed of two MLC 4Gb NAND chips in a single TSOP package. MLC NAND stores two bits of information in each memory cell, compared to one bit-per-cell for Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash, and provides excellent cost/performance value well suited for use in low to high-end digital still cameras, camcorders and MP3 players.

For applications requiring both high capacity and faster write and erase performance, TAEC has added the new 2GB THNCF2G04DG High Speed CompactFlash Card. The High Speed CompactFlash Card is based on SLC NAND Flash technology, which stores one bit per cell, and utilizes an optimized controller with large block NAND technology to achieve higher data transfer rates, approximately twice as fast as the standard speed cards. The high-speed card is targeted for very demanding applications in digital photography, digital video, high resolution digital still cameras, PDAs, other high-end portable electronics products equipped with a CompactFlash Card slot.

The new 2GB and 4GB cards complement Toshiba’s existing lineup of CompactFlash memory cards, available in capacities of 128 megabyte (MB)4, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB.

“Our MLC NAND-based cards provide excellent performance for typical consumer applications, while our new High Speed 2GB CompactFlash card offers a higher performance option for demanding applications, professional photographers and avid hobbyists using ultra-high resolution digital still cameras,” said Kumagai.

TAEC recently conducted a study on the data storage performance requirements of digital consumer applications, comparing published performance characteristics of both MLC and SLC NAND against application requirements. This data demonstrates that Toshiba’s latest MLC NAND Flash chips go well beyond the performance necessary to support the data storage requirements of most consumer applications, including digital photography and DVD-quality video.

Toshiba’s MLC NAND exceeds the minimum read and write requirements of several digital video formats by implementing advanced design concepts and adjusting the control system of the memory cell. Based on published bandwidth requirements, Toshiba’s MLC NAND devices offer more than sufficient performance to support the minimum read and write specifications of various DVD-quality digital video file formats, including MPEG25, MPEG4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC)6 or H.264, and Windows Media® 9.05 files.

Among the findings of the study is that the 10,000 write/erase cycles of MLC NAND Flash are more than sufficient for extended use in digital photography applications. For example, the new 4GB card can store an estimated 156 uncompressed images 2 from an 8 megapixel camera, or 2,000 images7 using standard compression ratios. With its 10,000 write/erase cycles, the user would be able to store approximately 1.5 million uncompressed pictures or 20 million JPG compressed images within the expected life of the card. For further details on the performance study, please visit http://mlcnand.toshiba.com.

Pricing and Availability
Samples of Toshiba’s standard CompactFlash card are available now, priced at $299.99/unit for the 2GB and $499.99/unit for the 4GB, each.

NAND Flash Background
As a recognized pioneer in flash technology, Toshiba invented NOR-type flash technology in 1984 and NAND-type flash technology in 1987. Toshiba maintains leadership in flash technology today, with the industry’s broadest selection of 1Gb NAND flash memory and a complete line of NAND memory in densities from 128Mb9 to 8Gb to meet various application requirements. NAND Flash technology is the enabling solution used in all popular memory cards such as SD, CompactFlash, xD Picture Card, Memory Stick and USB Flash drives. Toshiba features both SLC and MLC NAND in addition to a vast selection of digital media solutions for a variety of applications including digital still and video cameras, audio players, PDAs, portable and desktop computers, handheld data collection scanners, cell phones, home entertainment systems and more. NAND flash has become one of the leading technologies for solid state storage applications because of its high-speed programming capability, high-speed erasing, and low cost. The sequential nature (serial access) of NAND-based Flash memory provides notable advantages for these block-oriented data storage applications.

*About TAEC
Combining quality and flexibility with design engineering expertise, TAEC brings a breadth of advanced, next-generation technologies to its customers. This broad offering includes memory and flash memory-based storage solutions, a broad range of discrete devices, displays, medical tubes, ASICs, custom SOCs, microprocessors, microcontrollers and wireless components for the computing, wireless, networking, automotive and digital consumer markets.

TAEC is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba, one of the five largest semiconductor companies worldwide in terms of global sales for the year 2003 according to Gartner/Dataquest’s Worldwide Semiconductor Market Share Ranking. Toshiba is a world leader in high-technology products with more than 300 major subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. For additional company and product information, please visit TAEC’s website at chips.toshiba.com. For technical inquiries, please e-mail [email protected].

1 When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabyte and/or GB means 1,024x1024x1= 1,073,741,824 bytes. Usable capacity may be less. For details, please refer to applicable product specifications.
2 Source: http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/digitalcamera/coolpix/8800/index.htm
3 When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabit and/or Gb means 1,024x1,024x1,024 = 1,073,741,824 bits. Usable capacity may be less. For details, please refer to applicable product specifications.
4 When used herein in relation to memory density, megabyte and/or MB means 1,024x1,024 = 1,048,576 bytes. Usable capacity may be less. For details, please refer to applicable product specifications.
5 Microsoft Windows Media 9 http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs.aspx
6 “Overview of the H.264/AVC Video Coding Standard,” IEEE Transactions on Contents on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, July 2003.
7 Results may vary depending on the compression ratio.
8 Read and write speed may vary depending on the read and write conditions, such as devices you use and file sizes you read and/or write. (For purposes of measuring write speed in this context, 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes).
9 When used herein in relation to memory density, megabit and/or Mb means 1,024x1,024 = 1,048,576 bits. Usable capacity may be less. For details, please refer to applicable product specifications.

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. In developing designs, please ensure that Toshiba products are used within specified operating ranges as set forth in the most recent Toshiba product specifications and the information set forth in Toshiba’s “Handling Guide for Semiconductor Devices,” or “Toshiba Semiconductor Reliability Handbook.” This information is available at http://www.chips.toshiba.com, or from your TAEC representative.

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