Toshiba and Canon will work together on manufacturing 15nm NAND flash chips with volume production to be expected around 2015. Toshiba is world's second largest NAND flash manufacturer (after Samsung) and Canon produces fab equipment.
Together they will work on a new lithography technology called 'nano imprint' which should result in 15 nm NAND memory. The actual research and development should take place at Toshiba plant in Japan. Currently Toshiba's latest NAND memory is its second generation 19nm NAND. The company recently acquired the assets of OCZ Technology which it now can supply with its own NAND chips.
Manufacturers are working on bringing down the size of NAND flash cells. The smaller the cells, the more fit on a wafer and the cheaper they get. Unfortunately shrinking the chips brings complications and caused interference between the cells requires improved error correction.
