Solid State Drives: A Closer Look provides a detailed overview of the
technology, architecture and reliability of SSDs as well as techniques for
improving the performance and endurance of SSDs. The report also describes
measures to increase the endurance of NAND flash on the device level such as
in the ultra high endurance server-grade NAND flash from Samsung.
Currently, there is a wide range of SSD performance and quality from various
suppliers. An overview of SSD-related patents reveals which companies may have
a long-term competitive advantage in this nascent market.
The report also includes a comparison of SSDs in the enterprise, low cost
mobile notebook PC, notebook PC and desktop PC segments as well as a workload
analysis of applications in the enterprise space. Detailed revenue, unit and
price forecasts are provided for all segments.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS III
LIST OF FIGURES VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
INTRODUCTION 3
NAND FLASH MEMORY OVERVIEW 4
NAND Flash 4
Concept 4
Technology Evolution 6
NAND Flash Architecture 9
NAND Flash Density Trend 11
Page Size Trend 13
Block Size Trend 14
Read Time 14
Program Time 16
Endurance 17
Retention 17
SOLID STATE DRIVES 19
What is a solid state drive? 19
The Memory Hierarchy 19
SSD Overview 22
SSD Architecture 25
Controller 27
Flash Translation Layer 28
Mapping Schemes 30
Bad Block Management 33
Wear-leveling 33
Garbage Collection 35
Error Correction 36
Interleaving 37
Power Loss Protection 37
Techniques for Improving SSD Performance/Endurance 38