NAND flash giants uncork interface standard
By Colleen Taylor -- EDN, January 22, 2007
The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) Working Group today unveiled its first specification aiming to aid with the integration of NAND flash memory into consumer electronics devices, computing platforms and industrial systems.
According to the group, which counts Hynix Semiconductor, Intel Corp., Micron Technology, Phison Electronics Corp., Sony Corp. and STMicroelectronics as members, the chip-level standard interface simplifies flash controller design and facilitates the integration of a wide range of NAND flash components into diverse end-use applications.
The ONFI 1.0 specification aims to define NAND device behavior, such as command and register sets, pin-out, electrical parameters and packaging. In addition, the group said, the specification provides NAND flash with the ability to identify itself and provide key characteristics such as memory layout, timing support, and enhanced features to the controller, via a standardized protocol.
This self-describe capability expands the range of NAND flash components that the application can efficiently accommodate, ONFI claimed. This also allows support for new flash components with minimal software changes, thus shortening qualification cycles and improving time-to-market for original design manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers.
Now that the 1.0 specification has been completed, ONFI said it will focus on increasing the flash interface transfer rate to improve overall system-level performance. The group said it will also continue to simplify host controller design by providing a block abstraction capability. ONFI also intends to define a flash module, set for completion in the second half of 2007, that includes a tailored module connector to allow an industry standard, pluggable NAND module similar to a DRAM module used in computing platforms today.
