NAND Controllers for Mobile Storage Applications

30th July 2007

ES Admin

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Addressing the performance, compatibility, functionality and reliability needs of solid state mass storage solutions, SST (Silicon Storage Technology) has announced that it is expanding its NAND controller offerings with two new NAND controllers, the ATA Flash Disk Controller (SST55VD020) and the CompactFlash Card Controller (SST55LC200). Featuring an advanced error correction code (ECC) engine, these high-performance controllers are well positioned for managing current and future high-density NAND flash requirements. SST SuperFlash-based embedded firmware allows for firmware updates before, during and after manufacturing. Firmware update functions eliminate the need to re-design or re-qualify new controllers to meet the requirements of new NAND flash technology introduced after the system has been put into production. This allows system manufacturers to optimize NAND costs, availability and performance requirements in the face of fast-changing NAND technologies.

With an Ultra-DMA host interface and intelligent NAND flash interface, the new NAND controllers can operate up to 30MB/sec for both sustained write and read operations. Both controllers also directly support up to eight chip-enables for NAND devices. In addition, the SST55VD020 ATA Flash Disk Controller can support up to 64 chip-enables for NAND devices with external decoding logic and drivers.

Ideal for products with size constraints such as music players, portable multimedia players and camcorders, the SST55VD020 is offered in a very small 6mm x 6mm x 0.85mm 85-ball VFBGA package. Both the ATA Flash Disk Controller and the CompactFlash Card Controller are also available in a 100-pin TQFP package. The ATA Flash Disk Controller is also compliant to industry standards ATA-4 supporting PIO-4, MWDMA-4 and UDMA-4. The CompactFlash Card Controller is compliant to CFA 3.0 supporting PIO-6, MWDMA-4 and UDMA-4.

Utilizing SST SuperFlash memory technology, SST NAND controllers are factory pre-programmed with an embedded flash file system, which allows the devices to automatically recognize any attached NAND devices at power up. SST NAND controllers have a built-in hardware ECC engine designed to correct up to eight random bit errors. With the robust hardware ECC engine, SST NAND controllers are designed to meet the requirements of future generations of NAND flash, including Multi-Level Cell (MLC) and Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash.

“With the two new controllers, SST is addressing the fast adoption of NAND flash for data storage in applications that require more capacity, better performance and higher reliability,” said Frank Lin, vice president of Application Specific Controller Products at SST. “The ATA Flash Disk Controller and CompactFlash Card Controller also enable system manufacturers to take advantage of the latest NAND flash available, further improving time to market and cost reduction.”

The SST55VD020 ATA Flash Disk Controller offers added security for applications that require protection of confidential data. The security features on the SST55VD020 allow for up to four protection zones which can be configured by the user to be Read/Write, Read-only or Hidden. The SST55VD020 can also access the data within the protected zones through a password-protected command.

Samples of the SST55VD020 and the SST55LC200 controllers are available now. Pricing starts at $3.12 in 100K unit quantities.