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the challenges facing ULL
SSDs
April 29, 2013 - StorageSearch.com
today published a new article - Memory
Channel Storage SSDs - will the new ultra low latency SSD concept fly? -
should you book a seat yet?
Hybrid Memory Cube spec ready for chip designers
Editor:-
April 3, 2013 - back in
October 2011 - I
reported on this page the formation of a new industry
ORG - the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium
- which could have an impact on future SSD packaging densities.
It
takes a while to get these things going - but according to
a
press release this week by one of the founding companies - Micron - the 100 plus
companies which are collaborating in this enterprise have agreed on an
interface
specification (pdf).
A key feature of the new multiplane memory
architecture is that distributed memory controllers in an HMC module will
handle the data I/O packet requests for the bunch of stacked memory chips in its
own vault. This is similar to the distributed intelligent data mover concept
which is already used in all proprietary
big architecture
SSD controller designs - because it's the only way you can get good
aggregated global system performance while also dealing with low level
local memory management issues at low latency.
As with earlier
generations of remote distributed memory interfaces - such as
InfiniBand - HMC is
designed to optimize the request of small packets - which in the case of HMC is
16 to 128 bytes of data.
With today's semiconductor speeds -
accessing the data in those distributed memory chips within the same HMC module
presents similar technical problems to distributed memory cards in traditional
computer designs - because traversing inches of physical space at high speed is
as difficult as moving data across tens of feet at slower speeds.
HMC
has been born as a DRAM
technology - but don't ignore it - just for that reason. (Or because the data
packet sizes are small compared to the block sizes in
nand flash.) If and when
these HMC packaging ideas result in viable products - the ideas and
methodologies will spill into SSDs too -regardless of what the underlying
memories used in SSDs may be at that time.
It's all about speed and
scalability. According to the HMC
faqs page - A single (1st generation) HMC unit can provide more than 15x
the bandwidth of a DDR3 module. See also:-
SSD interface glue chips.
Crocus steers R&D efforts to simplify and accelerate
adoption of magnetically enhanced semiconductors
Editor:- February
21, 2013 - Crocus
Technology today
announced the
appointment of Dr.
Ken Mackay as VP of technology development in which role he will manage
and overview nano-magnetic materials research and CMOS teams - within the
company and in partner organizations - towards the goal of fully integrating
Crocus' magnetically enhanced semiconductor technology to the needs of
industrial markets.
Proton gets funds to rejuvenate flash
Editor:-
February 7, 2013 - Proton
Digital Systems today announced
the completion of its $2 million seed round to support continued development
and expansion of its LDPC-based flash read channel IP products that increase
the
endurance
and longevity of
flash memory.
Proton's IP is currently licensed for enterprise and consumer applications and
has already been adopted by some of the world's largest flash memory companies.
See
also:-
adaptive R/W
and DSP IP in SSDs,
SSD controllers,
how to market flash
management care schemes for SSDs
PCIe everywhere?
Editor:- February 1, 2013 -
Is PCIe the Natural
Next-Generation Data Center Fabric?
That's what Larry Chisvin, VP of
strategic initiatives PLX
Technology believes and he'll try to convert you to his way of
thinking next week at
the Linley Tech Data
Center Conference in Santa Clara. PLX is the worldwide market leader in PCIe
switch products.
See also:-
enterprise SSD silos,
PCIe SSDs,
SSD glue chips.
Diablo sets up compatibility team for new SSD interface
Editor:- January 29, 2013 - Diablo Technologies
today
announced
it has set a compatibility advisory team for its new SSD interface - which
the company is apparently positioning as a faster alternative to
PCIe SSDs.
"As
we prepare to launch our line of Memory Channel Storage products that enable
next-generation enterprise server and storage system designs, we have set our
sights on unprecedented levels of performance for current and future
applications To that end, we have
assembled
a group of top industry innovators to help refine the development of our
revolutionary NAND-flash system solutions..." said Diablo's CTO - Maher Amer.
Cypress article re nvSRAMs in fast SSDs
Editor:-
November 5, 2012 - A
new
article in EETimes discusses the theoretical advantages of using nvSRAMs as
the RAM cache in enterprise
SSDs in the context of simplifying design for
surviving
sudden power loss.
The author Pramodh Prakash
from Cypress
Semiconductor describes how the company's
nvSRAMs transfer data in
a parallel cell by cell operation from run-time RAM to down-time SONOS in about
8mS.
Back in September 2008 (in a comment which can still be seen in
the hybrid SSDs
page) I too speculated that this technology from Cypress might find uses in
fast flash SSDs.
Now I have doubts, however. And here are my reasons.
- Cypress's nvSRAMs still require hold up capacitors - to support the store
to nvm operation - although they don't need as much capacitance as DRAM
designs.
- Cypress's nvSRAMs offer memory capacity (16Mb sampling) which is too small
to be useful in any of the
RAM flash cache
SSD architectures I know about. Too big for skinny designs and too small for
regular designs.
My guess is that this technology could still be
useful if it was integrated as a small part of an
SSD controller chip
(supporting the very low capacities needed by skinny designs) - but a lot of
fast enterprise SSD controllers are implemented by FPGAs or eASICs. FPGA makers
would have to preguess how much capacity to offer in their chips - because the
SONOS cells require a mask level design - not simply a firmware routing.
the Future of Semiconductor Memory
September 18, 2012
- "Anybody can produce 100K chips, but it's a whole different beast to
produce 80 billion chips. Resistive, phase change, any technology - it's how to
make the transition from 100K to 80 billion" said Bill Gervasi,
Discobolous Designs in
a discussion at MemCon about the
manufacturability of new memory types such as RRAM, MRAM and PCM -
the
Future of Semiconductor Memory.
IDT samples controllers for NVMe compatible 2.5" PCIe SSDs
Editor:-
August 21, 2012 - IDT
today
announced
it's sampling single chip NVMe
compatible flash SSD
controllers for designers in the
PCIe SSD market.
2
models are available:- a 16-channel with PCIe x4 Gen 3 (89HF16P04AG3
for smaller footprints such as the
2.5" PCIe SSD
market - supports upto 2TB capacity) and 32-channel with PCIe x8 Gen 3 (89HF32P08AG3
for the conventional size cards upto 4TB capacity) - in 27 x 27 mm and 40 x 40
mm FCBGA packages respectively.
Both products support connection to 2
hosts and failover for
HA applications.
Editor's
comments:- for those of you who like videos - I suggest you see
IDT's
video which starts with an introduction to acceleration SSDs, explains the
advantages of having a standard such as NVMe - which means that oems can have a
single common set of drivers which work with SSDs from multiple vendors and
describes more features of the products - including hot pluggability.
the future of PCIe SSDs - series 6, episode 192 - will the
Semicos take it all?
Editor:- July 24, 2012 - You can see how an
anticipated 45 second discussion with
Texas Memory Systems
about bootable PCIe SSDs turned into a 45 minutes discussion about the future
of the PCIe SSD market on the SSD
news page today.
Virtium screens for cooler running DRAM
Editor:- June
13, 2012 - Virtium
Technology has launched a new range of
low power DDR3L
memory modules - in 4GB and 8GB capacities - which have been designed
using a combination of techniques including screening for lowest total
electrical current and thermal-relief copper pour methodology PCB design.
This reduces DRAM surface temperatures up to 10°C which can
also increase performance in hot systems - because the need to perform double
refresh rates (at or above 85°C) is obviated.
SSDs and USB 3
Editor:- June 13, 2012 -Does
my NAND flash need USB 3.0? - is a good summary of the value that USB 3
can bring to the SSD market - written by Eric Huang, at
Synopsys
BiTMICRO acquires mixed signal IP assets from QualCore
Editor:-
June 5, 2012 - BiTMICRO
has
obtained over 600 IP assets from QualCore
whose portfolio includes analog, digital, and mixed-signal IC design.
Engineers retained from QualCore's IP and ASIC services team have joined the
recently established BiTMICRO India. The acquisition also brings BiTMICRO
closer to its goal of bringing the entire development cycle in-house, from ASIC
design to characterization testing.
MOSAID samples high density fast flash modules for SSD makers
Editor:-
April 3, 2012 - MOSAID
Technologies today
announced
that it is sampling a 16 die NAND flash stack integrated with its
HLNAND bridge interface
in a single 100-ball BGA measuring 18mm x 14mm - which provides 512GB raw
capacity and 667MB/s aggregate simultaneous R/W throughput as a building block
for use by SSD oems to build multi-terabyte SSDs with GB/s throughput by
adding their own SSD
controllers.
MOSAID's VP of R&D - Jin-Ki Kim said
- "HLNAND's ring architecture allows a virtually unlimited number of NAND
die to be connected on a single channel without performance degradation."
Greenliant ships industrial secure SATA NANDrives
Editor:-
February 28, 2012 - Greenliant
Systems has
started
volume shipments of its
industrial grade
rugged SATA SLC
SSDs on a chip (BGA -
14mm x 24mm x 1.95mm) -
NANDrive
GLS85LS - which have upto 8GB capacity, 70/60MB/s R/W, include zoneable
password security and
fast erase, and
strong power fail data
protection.
Rambus gets into the nv memory IP market
Editor:-
February 6, 2012 -Rambus
today
announced
it has acquired Unity
Semiconductor for an aggregate of $35 million in cash.
As
part of this acquisition, the Unity team members have joined Rambus to continue
developing innovations and solutions for next-generation
non-volatile
memory.
Intel buys InfiniBand line from QLogic
Editor:-
January 24, 2012 - Intel
yesterday
announced
an agreement to acquire the
InfiniBand
40Gbps (pdf) related product lines, IP and business assets of QLogic.
SandForce nominated in GSA awards
Editor:- November
8, 2011 - SandForce
has been nominated for the
2011
Global Semiconductor Alliance Awards - in the category "most respected
private semiconductor company."
Volume shipments of 16Kb self powered EEPROM
Editor:-
November 4, 2011 - STMicroelectronics
today announced
volume production of a new type of dual function RFID 16Kbit EEPROM which
harvests energy from ambient carrier wave energy to power attached
electronic components.
The energy harvesting capability of the EEPROM will enable new types
of miniaturized electronics. ST has demonstrated the
M24LR16E
energy-harvesting wireless memory by illuminating indicator LEDs. Other
potential applications include e-paper devices such as electronic shelf labels
and personal healthcare products.
Editor's comments:- the Russians pioneered the concept of harvesting
radio energy to power circuits. In 1952 a bug was found in the US embassy in
Moscow which was powered when bombarded with microwaves from a nearby building.
It was built into a wooden model of the
Great Seal of the US
which had been given to the ambassador as a present. ...from the book -
GCHQ, by Richard
Aldrich.
BiTMICRO nurtures chip design training in Philippines
Editor:-
October 25, 2011 - the
Bruce Institute of Technology is
a new training institute in the Philippines - focused on microchip design -
which has been set up in a collaborated effort led by BiTMICRO in
partnership with Synopsys,
Cadence and
leading universtities.
The name celebrates the family name of the Bruce
brothers - who founded BiTMICRO in
1995 as
an ASIC design consultancy - before embarking on their pioneering market
developments in flash SSDs.
BiTMICRO's Chairman and CEO, Rey Bruce
said "The Philippines' traction in the global microelectronics industry is
almost entirely concentrated in assembly, fabrication and manufacturing.
BiTMICRO is practically the only Filipino founded and owned company engaging
into actual microchip design and engineering. We will do our part in uplifting
the industry to higher valued services and service capabilities with the
technology and products that we develop and produce in the country but this will
be not enough. Our goal with BIT is replicate our success at BiTMICRO in
developing microelectronic design skills."
Rudy Bruce, President of BIT, said "We hope to eventually build a
critical mass of locally developed engineers that can make the Philippines a
favored destination of the world's best microelectronic design companies. We
still believe in the Filipino's ingenuity and their ability to be relevant in
the world stage."
Hybrid Memory Cube will enable Petabyte SSDs
Editor:-
October 7, 2011 - Samsung
and Micron this
week launched an new industry initiative - the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium
- which will standardize a new module architecture for memory chips -
enabling greater density, faster bandwidth and lower power.
"HMC
is unlike anything currently on the radar," said Robert Feurle,
Micron's VP for DRAM Marketing. "HMC brings a new level of capability to
memory that provides exponential performance and efficiency gains that will
redefine the future of memory."
OCZ nabs PLX team to speed new PCIe SSDs
Editor:-
October 5, 2011 - OCZ
has has agreed to acquire the
UK Design Team
(approximately 40 engineers located in Abingdon) and certain assets from PLX Technology which will
enable OCZ to accelerate the development of its next generation of SSDs -
while also reducing development costs.
Editor's comments:- in
addition to traditional storage interfaces - PLX's special focus in the past
year has been technologies related to faster
PCIe SSDs.
Samsung acquires more nv RAM IP
Editor:- August 3,
2011 -Samsung
has acquired
Grandis - an
nv
RAM company which has been developing spin transfer torque random access
memory (STT-RAM).
world's first PCIe PCM SSD
Editor:- June 14, 2011 -
NVSL ( the Non-Volatile Systems
Lab at UCSD) recently
demonstrated
a prototype PCIe PCM (phase-change memory) SSD - with R/W speeds upto 1.1GB/s
and 327MB/s respectively and 8GB usable capacity.
A spokesperson for
the Moneta SSD design team - Professor
Steven Swanson said "...Moneta gives us a window into the future of
what computer storage systems are going to look like, and gives us the
opportunity now to rethink how we design computer systems in response."
Swanson says he hopes to build the 2nd generation of the Moneta
storage device in the next 6 to 9 months and says the technology could be ready
for market in just a few years as the underlying phase-change memory technology
improves.
Editor's comments:- in a white paper
Protoype
PCM Storage Array (pdf) the team outlines the design and architecture of
their PCM SSD prototype and also compares aspects of performance with entry
level PCIe flash SSDs from
Fusion-io. ...read my views
STEC shifts from FPGAs to ASICs in ZeusIOPS
Editor:-
May 10, 2011 - STEC
announced it will transition the hardware used in its high performance
ZeusIOPS (2.5" and
3.5") SSDs from a
dependence on FPGAs to ASICs. And the same ASIC design will be used in
new PCIe SSDs later
this year.
STEC also announced that its revenue in the most recent
quarter was back in alignment with the growth rates for the enterprise SSD
market - following a decline in the preceding year attributed to over
stocking by its biggest customer
EMC.
TMS updates SSD patents list
Editor:- May 3, 2011
- new (to me) is a
patents directory on Texas Memory Systems'
website which lists the company's US patents which are mostly related to
ensuring the integrity
of data in fast SSDs.
The most recent - issued a few weeks ago -
is related to dealing with timing skews which occur in all digital systems -
but which become more significant when data throughput approaches the speed
limits of the associated chip driver technology and board layout environment.
The patent covers a TMS technique for fine tuning set-up and hold times and
extracting reliable data. Other TMS patents in the last year relate to variable
size page data striping in flash arrays and a scheme for reducing
read
disturb errors. See also:-
SSD
patents (editor mentions on StorageSearch.com).
Anobit sources vital analog IP for SSDs
Editor:-
April 12, 2011 -
Anobit today
announced it has licensed IP cores from Cosmic
Circuits for several of its SoCs.
The analog IPs which consisted of linear regulators, a
power-on-reset
and a silicon oscillator (with integrated clock multiplier) were implemented in
65nm CMOS process. These IPs were integrated into Anobit's
flash memory controllers
to enhance reliability
and performance.
Kobi
Blechman, VP R&D at Anobit said, "We had a need for a diverse
set of IPs, and were looking for a supplier who had proven expertise in each of
these areas. Cosmic fit the bill perfectly. With the strong support provided by
their team, we were also able to quickly address any integration issues, making
the process smooth and seamless."
Editor's
comments:- although this press release only gives partial details of the
IP supplied (which relate to managing
sudden SSD
power loss) I'm also guessing that Cosmic's ADC technology might also be in
the mix.
Anobit uses DSP techniques to get better discrimination of
the state represented by stored charge in MLC flash. Sampling that charge itself
is an error prone process - but the "disturbance noise" filtering by
DSP can produce more reliable results if you can improve the ADC's resolution
or repeatability. Even a small incremental improvement or tweak in design at
this end can produce dramatic increases in
data integrity.
PLX ready to play part in PCIe SSD growth
Editor:-
March 16, 2011 - PLX
Technology today
announced it's
working with system partners worldwide to accelerate adoption of PCIe SSDs.
PLX
has been providing PCIe switches to manufacturers of both
HDD and
SSD based storage solutions
for years and has 65% market share in this segment. PLX is a founding member
of the (Intel led)
enhanced Non-Volatile
Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) Work Group whose goal is to enable
the broad adoption of SSDs
using PCIe.
"Enterprise SSD
products have attracted significant interest over the past few years," said
Michael
Yang, principal analyst for memory and storage at
iSuppli. "...PCI
Express-based products will be the primary catalyst for the segment with 40%
compound annual growth rate in shipments through 2015."
OCZ acquires Indilinx
Editor:- March 14, 2011 - OCZ today announced it has
signed a definitive agreement to acquire Indilinx for for
approximately $32 million of OCZ common stock.
Intel publishes new standard to increase efficiency of PCIe SSDs
Editor:-
March 1, 2011 - Intel
published version 1.0 of a new proprietary standard for designers of
PCIe SSDs in systems
which use Intel processors - the
NVM Express Optimized PCI
Express SSD Interface.
The interface efficiently supports
multi-core by ensuring thread(s) may run on each core with its own queue &
interrupt without any locks required. For enterprise class solutions, there is
support for end-to-end data protection, security & encryption capabilities,
as well as robust error reporting and management capabilities.
Intel
says that more than 70 companies have contributed to the standard - which will
make it easier to write software drivers which support multiple vendors. The
new standard will also make it easier for oems to adopt new SSD products from
alternative vendors which implement a consistent feature set.
Link_A_Media sues Marvell re HDD data integrity IP
Editor:-
February 16, 2011 -
Link_A_Media Devices
has filed a lawsuit against Marvell asserting that
Marvell has infringed on Link_A_Media's U.S. Patent No. 7,590,927 ("Soft
Output Viterbi Detector With Error Event Output").
In the complaint, Marvell is accused of willfully and deliberately
manufacturing and selling read channel products for storage devices that
infringe the '927 Patent. Link_A_Media is seeking monetary damages and an
injunction to stop Marvell from continued infringement of the company's patent.
Link_A_Media 's CEO, Hemant K. Thaparcommented
that, "Link_A_Media's pioneering work enables manufacturers of
hard disk drives to
increase the storage density of
mobile storage devices
and to lower manufacturing costs for these products. We intend to enforce and
defend the intellectual property on our work to ensure that Link_A_Media's
inventions are not unfairly exploited."
Business opportunities from Intel's imperfect bridge chips
Editor:-
February 9, 2011 -
Intel
Knowingly Sells Faulty Chipsets. are they Crazy? is a new article on PCWorld.com which discusses how Intel
is dealing with the issue of a bridge chip with known defects in some
SATA ports.
I
rarely read that publication because my interests are enterprise storage and
SSDs - but the author Keir Thomas
had linked to StorageSearch.com from another recent article he wrote -
Seagate:
SSDs are Doomed (at Least for Now) - which showed up in my web stats.
When
I started my storage
reliability directory in 2006 - I knew that large storage vendors would ship
flaky SSDs and hard
drives - but I assumed that would be due to the unwitting and creeping use of
inappropriate
design
and testing methodologies
- rather than deliberate business decisions.
Another
characteristic of this Intel chip is that if oems populate all the
RAM slots which it "supports"
- the speed drops down to unattractive levels.
But that's not bad
news for everyone. Adrian Proctor,
VP of of Marketing at Viking
told me last month it means there's a growing population of DIMM slots on
motherboards which can't be used for RAM - but could be used instead to save
space and power by installing their
SATADIMM
SSDs to replace HDDs as boot drives. Other companies make
1 inch and smaller SSDs
too.
companies you can trust to speed your SandForce SSD to market
Editor:-
January 31, 2011 -SandForce
has started a directory of companies, tools, technologies and services to
help SSD designers integrate its
SSD processors and get
them to market more quickly.
Each member company in the new
SandForce
Trusted™ program ensures that their products and/or services fully
support SandForce SSD Processors and provides response to SandForce customer
inquiries within 24 hours while committing to high-priority support for fastest
problem resolution.
Editor's comments:- 6 out of the 7 initial
companies in the new program provide
test / design verification
products.
new report looks at NAND flash succession
Editor:-
January 11, 2011 - Forward Insights
and its research collaborators have compiled an in-depth, independent analysis
which analyzes the options for various
non volatile memory
technologies which could become viable in storage after floating gate NAND flash
hits fundamental scaling limitations
What's after
NAND? (pdf outline) is the product of experts in floating gate and charge
trap flash, and resistive and emerging memory technologies. This new report
(price $10k) evaluates 3D NAND and cross point memory concepts from Hynix,
Intel, Macronix, Micron, Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba and Unity and concludes with
a roadmap till the end of the decade.
will Micron's enhanced flash memory really eliminate error
concerns?
Editor:- December 3, 2010 - Micron recently
announced availability of enhanced 16GB to 64GB 25nm
MLC
flash memory chips with integrated error management - which the company
says - removes the burden of ECC from the host and simplifies the use of flash
in enterpise apps.
Editor's comments:- as discussed in my recent article -
bad block
management in flash SSDs good blocks and less good blocks have always
coexisted in flash memory. But as device geometries shrink (to increase
capacity and speed) the margin of error between usable and non usable cells has
shrunk too. In practical terms this means that the raw media quaility of new
flash chips has declined in the past decade from under 1% defects, then 2%, 5%
and I've seen projections as high as 10% for emerging MLC.
read longer version of
comments
new article - bad block management in flash SSDs
Editor:-
November 26, 2010 - StorageSearch.com
today published a new article -
principles of
bad block management in flash SSDs.
It's a non technical
introduction to the thinking behind one of the many vital functions inside a
flash SSD controller.
The new article - started out life this morning as a long email reply to one of
my readers. ...read
the article
new book - Inside NAND Flash
Editor:- November 17,
2010 - Forward
Insights (an SSD
analyst company) is one of the contributers to a new book called -
Inside
NAND Flash Memories.
The publishers say that
SSD designers must
understand flash technology in order to exploit its benefits and countermeasure
its weaknesses. The new book is a comprehensive guide to the NAND world -
from circuits design (analog and digital) to
reliability.
News to me - Seagate has MRAM technology
Editor:-
November 5, 2010 - an interesting article on Denali's blog site
discusses
Seagate's
relationship with MRAM.
Web-Feet reports on Storage Class Memories
Editor:-
October 18, 2010 - Web-Feet
Research has just released its latest technology assessment report on
Flash Memory, DRAM and the rise of alternative Non Volatile Memories and Storage
Class Memories in -
MTS650FT-2010
(summary pdf) - price $7,500.
This new report evaluates the
most promising SCM memories: PCM, STT-RAM, MRAM, Z-RAM, ReRAM, CBRAM, QsRAM,
and FeRAM. The manufacturability of SCM storage is evaluated for: CMOx, PCM-S,
RRAM-S, 3D NAND and some claims that SST-MRAM can fulfill the storage function.
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