Why ONFi
The importance of NAND Flash memory is growing—in everything from mobile phones to industrial systems. But until 2006 there was no standard, and thus no simple way to introduce new NAND Flash components into existing designs.
The lack of a standard caused serious design problems: host systems had to accommodate differences between vendors’ devices and adapt to generational changes in parts from a single vendor. All of this made incorporating new or updated NAND Flash components extremely costly, often requiring extensive hardware, firmware, and/or software changes, and additional testing, which slowed time to market.
ONFI works to solve all these issues by standardizing the NAND Flash interface—reducing vendor and generational incompatibilities and accelerating the adoption of new NAND products.
Benefits
Faster, Easier Design-In—ONFI's parameter page provides the controller with all of the device's relevant capabilities for quicker design, qualification, and testing.
Higher Speeds—Higher Speeds At 1200 MT/s, ONFI is the fastest NAND interface standard on the planet. These high speeds are made possible by the bidirectional source-synchronous DQS and scalable I/O interface
No Requalification—Standardized compatibility enables pin and function drop-in compatibility and integration. ONFI-standardized devices can use the same firmware and software to avoid expensive driver testing.
Flexible Packaging—ONFI's industry-standard BGA package accommodates both asynchronous and source-synchronous interfaces, reduces noise, and offers excellent signal integrity.
Features
- EZ-NAND interface removed the burden of the host controller having to keep pace with the fast changing ECC requirements of NAND technology, improving throughput and minimizing write errors on NAND
- Parameter page solves inconsistencies among devices by describing revision info, features, organization timing, and other vendor-specific data
- Asynchronous and source-synchronous support
- Backward compatibility simplifies qualification for new NAND devices
- Low-power DDR I/O
- Scalability for high-density applications
- Broad support from more than 80 top-level companies, including Micron, Intel, SK Hynix, Western Digital, Phison and Sony