SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) Working Group, the organization dedicated to simplifying integration of NAND Flash memory into consumer electronic devices, computing platforms, and industrial systems, published the new ONFI 3.2 standard. The ONFI 3.2 standard extends the non-volatile DDR2 (NV-DDR2) interface from 400 MB/s to 533 MB/s, providing a performance boost of up to 33% for high performance applications enabled by solid-state drives.
“This is indeed a reference document that design engineers will find helpful in enabling broader use of NAND flash.”
The ONFI 3.2 standard includes two BGA package definitions that provide four concurrent channels of NAND, allowing for over 2 GB/s of performance out of a single NAND package. The package definitions have been developed in collaboration with the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, ensuring interoperability across all NAND vendors.
“Members of JEDEC’s JC-42.4 Subcommittee were pleased to collaborate with ONFI to develop package definitions for the new specification,” said Cecil Ho, Subcommittee Chairman. “This is indeed a reference document that design engineers will find helpful in enabling broader use of NAND flash.”
Additionally, ONFI has begun work on its next generation specification – ONFI 4.0 – targeting speeds up to 800 MB/s. While pushing the envelope of performance, ONFI 4.0 is also focused on reducing power by lowering voltages and employing other power saving measures.
“ONFI has been working since 2006 to deliver NAND interface standards the industry needs to enable exciting applications utilizing high performance SSDs,” said Amber Huffman, senior principal engineer, Intel Storage Technologies Group and chairperson for the ONFI Workgroup Board of Directors. “ONFI 3.2 enhances performance today and ONFI 4.0 will push the envelope on both performance and power to enable continued innovation in handheld, client, and Datacenter platforms.”
About ONFI
The ONFI Working Group is dedicated to simplifying integration of NAND Flash memory into consumer electronics (CE) applications and computing platforms. Before the advancements made by the working group, use of NAND Flash in these end-use applications was hampered by the lack of sufficient standardization. To support a new NAND Flash component on a platform, host software and hardware changes were often required. Implementing these changes was extremely costly due to the new testing cycle required – which led to slower rates of adoption for new NAND Flash components. ONFI aims to remedy that problem and speed time to market for NAND Flash based applications.
The ONFI Working Group was formed in May 2006 and currently has more than 100 member companies. ONFI’s founding companies include Intel Corporation, Micron Technology, Inc., Phison Electronics Corporation, SanDisk, SK Hynix, Sony Corporation, and Spansion.
Please visit www.ONFI.org to download the standard or for more information on the initiative and how to become a contributor.