Product showcase

Before we can have a peek, we need to peel off the sticker. We'll test with it applied though.  The compact M.2 2280 (2280 = 80 mm) form factor ensures compatibility with next-generation desktop and mobile platforms that support the M.2 PCIe slot and interface. The front-facing side holds the controller, the NAND chips in total and a DRAM chip (cache).

  
With the sticker removed we see the top of the SSD, it also holds NAND chips on the top side and one DRAM chip sitting close to the controller. Typically this is set up in a 1:1 fashion, so it should be a 1024 DRAM cache buffer in total for the 1TB version.
   

 
The chip read out as a Sandisk Series NVMe controller. This WD owned controller is an 8-channel controller that makes use of the PCI Express 3.0 x4 (and not x2) interface and support both your regular and vertically stacked NAND flash. The controller supports the latest SLC/MLC/TLC and likely QLC as well as the latest 3D (vertically stacked) NAND (64-layer BiCs). 

 
Sandisk NAND. that would be a single package of 512GB (x2). It is written at 3 bits per cell (TLC) aside from a write cache written at SLC. You'll find two flash NAND packages.