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The real thrill of development: Conquering the world with new technology.
Hiroaki Hazama, Fellow
Expertise: Flash memory development
Interview
"Converting an idea into technology, and putting it into devices to create a market"
Discussion on the memory created through the combination of the best technologies by development leaders who have continued to take on the challenges for the introduction of new technology globally
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Interview video: The real thrill of development: Conquering the world with new technology.
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Expertise
As a Fellow, I am currently overseeing the development of 3D flash memory BiCS FLASH™. Flash memory is a memory that does not lose information even when the electricity is turned off. Although we've been miniaturizing it for a long time, at one point, we thought, "This will not go any smaller." So, we stacked them up like a skyscraper instead. We call this vertically stacked memory "3D flash memory".
Exciting work
The development of a flash memory called "43-nanometer". We managed to mass-produce the world's first High-k dielectric film to be used in flash memory. Such new technology is indispensable if we want to be at the forefront of memory development. We need to be sensible and use new technology well. To do so, we have to make apt judgements at every critical point.
The real thrill of product development
You can bring your ideas in a technological form to the device.It may or may not be visible from the outside. But even if I can't see it, I secretly think, "This part contains my technology," and it's inside many products out there. As an engineer, I think it's equally fun and gratifying.
KIOXIA's strengths
There are many manufacturers of flash memory now, but KIOXIA invented flash memory and three-dimensional flash memory. There is something in KIOXIA that allows us to develop and incorporate such new technologies ourselves. It's truly a blessing for a development engineer to be able to incorporate your ideas into products that will go on the market.
Contribution to the world 10 years from now
I think it is our mission to be the pioneer in developing large-capacity and low-priced memory. Flash memory has a cell area per bit. Up until now, it has been reduced to about 4 digits in magnitude. There is no other device in the world that the size is reduced to 4 digits smaller. Nowadays, everyone can bring in various information effortlessly with flash memory since both size and price are reduced to 4 digits smaller. By miniaturizing flash memory with such technology, I'd like to keep our contribution to society by increasing capacity and lowering costs.
Profile
Hiroaki Hazama, Fellow, Institute of Memory Technology Research & Development
Brief personal history
- 1985: Completed Electronic Engineering Major (Master’s Degree), Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
- 1985: Joined Toshiba Corporation, assigned to ULSI Research Laboratory, Research & Development Center
- 2007: Group Manager, Advanced Memory Device Development Dept., Advanced Memory Development Center, Toshiba Corporation
- 2008: Senior Manager, Advanced Memory Device Development Dept., Advanced Memory Development Center, Toshiba Corporation
- 2011: Chief Specialist, Memory Device Development, File Memory Device Engineering Department, Memory Division, Toshiba Corporation
- 2017: Senior Fellow, Memory Division, Toshiba Memory Corporation
- 2019: Fellow, Memory Division, KIOXIA Corporation
Expertise
Flash memory development
- 1994 - 2002: Clarification of the mechanism of memory cell reliability deterioration and development of high reliability cells
- 2002 - 2007: Led the development of 90 nm, 70 nm, 56 nm and 43 nm NAND flash memory
- 2007 - 2011: Led the development of 56 nm, 43 nm, 32 nm, 24 nm and 19 nm NAND flash memory
Awards received
- March 1995: IEEE International Conference on Microelectronics Test Structures Best Paper Award
- The content and profile are current as of the time of the interview (June 2021.)
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