Memory device range expanded with embedded 8-bit ECC

26th February 2014

Toshiba

Staff Reporter

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A range of SLC NAND flash memory has been expanded upon with the introduction of embedded 8-bit ECC. The range of 24nm BENAND SLC NAND flash memory, from Toshiba Electronics Europe, enables manufacturers to utilise the latest 24nm technology in devices that were designed to use 4xnm NAND. This results in extended product life for devices such as consumer electronics, multimedia devices, smart meters, intelligent lighting systems and industrial technology.

BENAND removes the burden of ECC from the host processor and enables designers to utilize leading edge process NAND flash technology. To ensure easy migration, the new BENAND have been designed so that features such as Page/Block size, spare area size, Commands, Interface and Package are kept the same as legacy 4xnm SLC NAND.

The price of NAND Flash memory made at advanced process nodes is reduced, but the smaller cells become more vulnerable to program/erase stresses. This requires more complex ECC to maintain the desired levels of reliability - for example small density 4xnm SLC NAND requires 1bit ECC, 3xnm SLC NAND requires 4bit ECC and 2xnm SLC NAND requires 8bit ECC.

ECC has traditionally been built into the host controllers, often making switching to newer, more cost effective NAND an expensive and time-consuming task as the host processor must be changed to enable the required level of error correction. However, BENAND rewrites this paradigm by moving the ECC onto the NAND chip and enabling legacy controllers to be used with the latest NAND technology – reducing BOM and system design costs while maintaining the high reliability of SLC NAND.

This introduction of 8Gb extends the line-up of BENAND from 1Gb to 8Gb, which is available in TSOP and BGA packages and in industrial and consumer operating temperature ranges.