ONFI – Open NAND Flash Interface
ONFI INTRODUCTION
The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) is an industry Workgroup made up of more than 100 companies that build, design-in, or enable NAND Flash memory dedicated to simplifying NAND Flash integration into consumer electronic products, computing platforms, and any other application that requires solid state mass storage. ONFI defines standardized component-level interface specifications as well as connector and module form factor specifications for NAND Flash.
Using an open interface standard strengthens the compatibility and interoperability of NAND devices from different vendors. Thus increasing the supply base for standard devices, reducing design time, and speeding time to market.
WHY ONFI?
The importance of NAND Flash memory is growing every day as it is used from mobile phones to industrial systems. Until 2006 there was no standard, and thus no simple ways 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. Thus, the development of ONFI solved all these issues by standardizing the NAND Flash interface reducing vendor and generational incompatibilities, and accelerating the adoption of new NAND products.
ADVANTAGES OF ONFI
● Faster and Easier Design- ONFI’s parameter page provides the controller with all of the device's relevant capabilities for quicker design, qualification, and testing.
● Higher Speeds- At Speeds of up to 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 OF ONFI
● EZ-NAND interface removes 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 with Backward compatibility simplifying qualification for new NAND devices.
● Low-power DDR I/O and Scalability for high-density applications.
● Broad support from more than 80 top-level companies, including Micron, Intel, SK Hynix, Western Digital, Phison, and Sony.
Conclusion:
Prodigy Technovations supports ONFI interface protocol decode and analysis.
