Program Cache Busy Time Control Method for Reducing Peak Current Consumption of NAND Flash Memory in SSD Applications

In current NAND flash design, one of the most challenging issues is reducing peak current consumption (peak ICC), as it leads to peak power drop, which can cause malfunctions in NAND flash memory. This paper presents an efficient approach for reducing the peak ICC of the cache program in NAND flash memory — namely, a program Cache Busy Time (tPCBSY) control method. The proposed tPCBSY control method is based on the interesting observation that the array program current (ICC2) is mainly decided by the bit‐line bias condition. In the proposed approach, when peak ICC2 becomes larger than a threshold value, which is determined by a cache loop number, cache data cannot be loaded to the cache buffer (CB). On the other hand, when peak ICC2 is smaller than the threshold level, cache data can be loaded to the CB. As a result, the peak ICC of the cache program is reduced by 32% at the least significant bit page and by 15% at the most significant bit page. In addition, the program throughput reaches 20 MB/s in multiplane cache program operation, without restrictions caused by a drop in peak power due to cache program operations in a solid‐state drive.     

Novel Co-Design of NAND Flash Memory and NAND Flash Controller Circuits for Sub-30 nm Low-Power High-Speed Solid-State Drives (SSD)

As the cell size of the NAND flash memory has been scaled down by 40%–50% per year and the memory capacity has been doubling every year, a solid-state drive (SSD) that uses NAND as mass storage for personal computers and enterprise servers is attracting much attention. To realize a low-power high-speed SSD, the co-design of NAND flash memory and NAND controller circuits is essential. In this paper, three new circuit technologies, the selective bit-line precharge scheme, the advanced source-line program, and the intelligent interleaving, are proposed. In the selective bit-line precharge scheme, an unnecessary bit-line precharge is removed during the verify-read and consequently the current consumption decreases by 23%. In the advanced source-line program scheme, a hierarchical source-line structure is adopted. The load capacitance during the program pulse is reduced by 90% without a die size overhead. As a result, the current consumption is reduced by 48%. Finally, with the intelligent interleaving, a current peak is suppressed and a high-speed parallel write operation of the NAND flash memories is achieved. By using these three technologies, both the NAND flash memory and the NAND controller circuits are best optimized. At the sub-30 nm generation, the current consumption of the NAND flash memory decreases by 60% and the SSD speed improves by 150% without a cost penalty or circuit noise.      

Soft-Decision Error Correction of NAND Flash Memory with a Turbo Product Code

As NAND flash memory fabrication technology scales down to 20 nm and below, the raw bit error rate increases very rapidly and conventional hard-decision based error correction does not provide enough protection. The turbo product code (TPC) based error correction with multi-precision output from NAND flash memory is promising because of high error-correcting performance and flexibility in code construction. In this work, we construct a rate-0.907 (36116, 32768) extended TPC for 2-bit MLC NAND flash memory, and apply the Chase–Pyndiah decoding algorithm. An efficient complexity reduction scheme is also proposed to eliminate redundant computations in the Chase–Pyndiah decoding algorithm. The replica parallel decoding is also employed to lower the error floor. The experimental results that include the effects of flash memory output precision are presented for a simulated flash memory channel.     

Fast NAND Flash Memory System for Instruction Code Execution

The objective of this research is to design a high‐performance NAND flash memory system containing a buffer system. The proposed instruction buffer in the NAND flash memory consists of two parts, that is, a fully associative temporal buffer for temporal locality and a fully associative spatial buffer for spatial locality. A spatial buffer with a large fetching size turns out to be effective for serial instructions, and a temporal buffer with a small fetching size is devised for branch instructions. Simulation shows that the average memory access time of the proposed system is better than that of other buffer systems with four times more space. The average miss ratio is improved by about 70% compared with that of other buffer systems.     

Data Randomization Scheme for Endurance Enhancement and Interference Mitigation of Multilevel Flash Memory Devices

In this letter, we propose a data randomization scheme for endurance and interference mitigation of deeply‐scaled multilevel flash memory. We address the relationships between data patterns and the raw bit error rate. An on‐chip pseudorandom generator composed of an address‐based seed location decoder is developed and evaluated with respect to uniformity. Experiments performed with 2x‐nm and 4x‐nm NAND flash memory devices illustrate the effectiveness of our scheme. The results show that the error rate is reduced up to 86% compared to that of a conventional cycling scheme. Accordingly, the endurance phenomenon can be mitigated through analysis of interference that causes tech shrinkage.     

FTL algorithms for NAND-type flash memories

Flash memory is being rapidly deployed as data storage for embedded devices such as PDAs, MP3 players, mobile phones and digital cameras due to its low electronic power, non-volatile storage, high performance, physical stability and portability. The most prominent characteristic of flash memory is that prewritten data can only be dynamically updated via the time consuming erase operation. Furthermore, every block in flash memory has a limited program/erase cycle. In order to manage these issues, the flash memory controller can be integrated with a software module called the flash translation layer (FTL). This paper surveys the state-of-art FTL algorithms. The FTL algorithms can be classified by the complexity of the algorithms: basic and advance. Furthermore, they can be classified by their corresponding tasks: performance enhancement and durability enhancement. The FTL algorithms corresponding to each classification are further broken down into various schemes depending on the methods they adopt. This paper also provides the information of hardware features of flash memory for FTL programmers.     

Virtual address cache with no reverse address buffering

A virtual address cache memory, whose operation is controlled explicitly by software, is presented. Ad hoc hardware mechanisms, including machine instructions and an operand addressing mode, reduce the complexity of cache management logic in favor of the capacity of the cache, and solve the major problem of virtual address cache organization: two or more virtual addresses mapping into the same real address     

High‐Performance Top‐Gated Organic Field‐Effect Transistor Memory using Electrets for Monolithic Printed Flexible NAND Flash Memory

High‐performance top‐gated organic field‐effect transistor (OFET) memory devices using electrets and their applications to flexible printed organic NAND flash are reported. The OFETs based on an inkjet‐printed p‐type polymer semiconductor with efficiently chargeable dielectric poly(2‐vinylnaphthalene) (PVN) and high‐k blocking gate dielectric poly(vinylidenefluoride‐trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF‐TrFE)) shows excellent non‐volatile memory characteristics. The superior memory characteristics originate mainly from reversible charge trapping and detrapping in the PVN electret layer efficiently in low‐k/high‐k bilayered dielectrics. A strategy is devised for the successful development of monolithically inkjet‐printed flexible organic NAND flash memory through the proper selection of the polymer electrets (PVN or PS), where PVN/‐ and PS/P(VDF‐TrFE) devices are used as non‐volatile memory cells and ground‐ and bit‐line select transistors, respectively. Electrical simulations reveal that the flexible printed organic NAND flash can be possible to program, read, and erase all memory cells in the memory array repeatedly without affecting the non‐selected memory cells.     

双通道流水线Flash存储系统的设计

提出了一种新颖的基于NAND Flash的存储系统.采用了双通道和流水线设计,提高了存储系统的吞吐量、降低平均响应时间.片上缓存技术隐藏了Flash的操作延时,提高了数据存储的速度.相比较传统的设计,平均读速度提高了约70.3%,平均写速度提高了约79.7%.     

3D NAND闪存数据保持力与初始状态依赖性研究

数据保持力是NAND闪存重要的可靠性指标,本文基于用户在使用模式下,通过设计测试方法,研究了电荷捕获型3D NAND闪存初始阈值电压-2V至3V的范围内数据保持力特性.结果表明初始状态为编程态时,可以有效降低NAND闪存高温数据保留后的误码率,特别是随着擦写次数的增加,不同初始状态下电荷捕获型3D NAND闪存数据保持力差异更加明显,结论表明闪存最适宜存放的状态为0-1V,电荷捕获型3D NAND闪存器件应避免长期处于深擦除状态.并基于不同初始状态闪存高温数据保留后的数据保持力特性不同的现象进行了建模和演示,通过设计实验验证,机理解释模型符合实验结果.该研究可为电荷捕获型3D NAND闪存器件的长期存放状态提供理论参考.     

闪速存储器的研究与进展

介绍了闪速存储器的发展历史,分析了闪速存储器单元及电路的工作原理,并就“与非”结构闪速存储器进行探讨,最后讨论了在闪速存储器中应用的误差矫正码／电路和深亚微米（０．２５μｍ）闪速存储器技术。     

A 16 Gb 3-Bit Per Cell (X3) NAND Flash Memory on 56 nm Technology With 8 MB/s Write Rate

A 16 Gb 8-level NAND flash chip on 56 nm CMOS technology has been fabricated and is being reported for the first time. This is the first 3-bit per cell (X3) chip published with all-bitline (ABL) architecture, which doubles the write performance compared with conventional shielded bitline architecture. A new advanced cache program algorithm provides another 15% improvement in write performance. This paper also discusses a technique for resolving the sensing error resulting from cell source line noise, which usually varies with the data pattern. The new architecture and advanced algorithm enable an 8 MB/s write performance that is comparable to previously published 2-bit per cell (4-level) NAND performance. Considering the significant cost reduction compared to 4-level NAND flash based on the same technology, this chip is a strong candidate for many mainstream applications.     

基于闪存的大容量存储阵列

大容量、高速度、高密度、低功耗、低成本、高可靠性和灵活性一直是星上记录设备信息存储技术的主要研究内容和追求目标。文中研究并实现了一种基于NAND型Flash的高速大容量固态存储系统,成果为实际研制应用于星的基于闪存的大容量存储器奠定了基础,具体较好的指导和借鉴意义。     

基于闪存阵列的缓存容量确定方法

针对低成本、小型化的数据记录系统的应用,提出了一种数据缓存技术解决方案。存储模块是由闪速存储器芯片（NAND Flash）组成的存储阵列,以FPGA为载体的SOPC系统作为存储模块的控制核心。分析存储系统的结构及控制平台的实现过程,并对系统工作原理及并行分路技术进行讨论。深入研究Flash阵列的存储过程,提出最小FIF...     

一种用于NAND闪存的奇偶位线块编程补偿算法

为改善数据保持干扰和编程干扰对NAND闪存可靠性的影响,提出了一种新的奇偶位线块编程补偿算法。该算法利用编程干扰效应来补偿由数据保持引起的阈值漂移,修复NAND闪存因数据保持产生的误码,提高了NAND闪存的可靠性。将该算法应用于编程擦除次数为3k次的1x-nm MLC NAND闪存。实验结果表明,在数据保持时间为1年的条件下,与传统奇偶交叉编程算法相比,采用该补偿算法的NAND闪存的误码降低了93%;与读串扰恢复算法相比,采用该补偿算法的NAND闪存的误码下降了38%。     

6G移动网络中闪存系统的性能优化方案:比特重映射

第6代移动通信技术(6G)网络所产生的海量数据对数据存储带来了全新挑战,推动着存储技术的迅猛发展。与非门(NAND)闪存存储器具有读写速度快,可靠性高等优点,故在6G网络中具有广泛的应用前景。为了提高NAND闪存的可靠性,针对两种不同位线结构的错误特性,该文分别提出基于全位线结构的等精度重映射方案和基于奇偶位线结构的不等精度的重映射方案。仿真结果表明,两种新型比特重映射方案有效提升了闪存的误码性能。基于此,该文所提重映射技术可被视作6G网络中可靠而高效的存储优化技术。     

基于FPGA与NAND闪存的固态存储系统设计

设计了一款可以测量记录6通道直流脉冲信号、分辨率8bit、每通道10MHz采样率的固态存储系统,该系统以FPGA作为核心控制器,主要完成多通道选择控制、AD采样频率及转换控制、数据缓冲FIFO以及控制NAND闪存进行数据存储的功能。系统采用模块化设计,内部采用VHDL语言设计,在ISE9.1软件环境下通过程序控制硬件实...     

Energy-Aware Flash Memory Management in Virtual Memory System

The traditional virtual memory system is designed for decades assuming a magnetic disk as the secondary storage. Recently, flash memory becomes a popular storage alternative for many portable devices with the continuing improvements on its capacity, reliability and much lower power consumption than mechanical hard drives. The characteristics of flash memory are quite different from a magnetic disk. Therefore, in this paper, we revisit virtual memory system design considering limitations imposed by flash memory. In particular, we focus on the energy efficient aspect since power is the first-order design consideration for embedded systems. Due to the write-once feature of flash memory, frequent writes incur frequent garbage collection thereby introducing significant energy overhead. Therefore, in this paper, we propose three methods to reduce writes to flash memory. The HotCache scheme adds an SRAM cache to buffer frequent writes. The subpaging technique partitions a page into subunits, and only dirty subpages are written to flash memory. The duplication-aware garbage collection method exploits data redundancy between the main memory and flash memory to reduce writes incurred by garbage collection. We also identify one type of data locality that is inherent in accesses to flash memory in the virtual memory system, intrapage locality. Intrapage locality needs to be carefully maintained for data allocation in flash memory. Destroying intrapage locality causes noticeable increases in energy consumption. Experimental results show that the average energy reduction of combined subpaging, HotCache, and duplication-aware garbage collection techniques is 42.2%.     

Modeling nand Flash Memories for IC Design

In this letter, we present a compact model of NAND flash memory strings for circuit simulation purposes. This model is modular and easy to be implemented, and its parameters can be extracted through a simple procedure. It allows accurate simulation of NAND flash memories with a limited computational effort, taking into account capacitive coupling effects which will become extremely important in future technology generations. This model is a very valuable tool for IC designers to optimize NVM circuits, particularly in multilevel applications.     

A 70 nm 16 Gb 16-Level-Cell NAND flash Memory

A 16 Gb 16-level-cell (16LC) NAND flash memory using 70 nm design rule has been developed . This 16LC NAND flash memory can store 4 bits in a cell which enabled double bit density comparing to 4-level-cell (4LC) NAND flash, and quadruple bit density comparing to single-bit (SLC) NAND flash memory with the same design rule. New programming method suppresses the floating gate coupling effect and enabled the narrow distribution for 16LC. The cache-program function can be achievable without any additional latches. Optimization of programming sequence achieves 0.62 MB/s programming throughput. This 16-level NAND flash memory technology reduces the cost per bit and improves the memory density even more.