Compute And AI In Next-Generation SSD Designs


Over the last 40 years digital storage has advanced at an amazing rate. Because it operates out of sight digital storage tends to be taken for granted, but today there is more storage capacity in the devices in our pockets than what existed in mainframe computers 30 years ago. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) this trend will continue and the results will be nothing less than astoun... » read more

Etch Techniques for Next-Generation Storage-Class Memory


Chipmakers make abundant use of two very different functional classes of memory in their products. For operational use (main/primary memory) where speed is critical, DRAM and SRAM are employed, whereas for long-term storage, flash memory – in particular NAND – provides the high capacity at low cost needed. For both classes, efforts to improve speed, capacity, and power usage are ongoing. To... » read more

Mentor TLC NAND Softmodel Soft-Bit Error Injection


Designing SSD controllers targeting NAND flash as the storage media requires some heavy lifting when it comes to dealing with the soft-errors that the flash will eventually produce. This paper will look at a method to simplify the design and verification required. We model these soft-bit behaviors with the Veloce emulator in a virtual setup, which reduces the time to market for an SSD. To r... » read more

Predictions: Manufacturing, Devices And Companies


Some predictions are just wishful thinking, but most of these are a lot more thoughtful. They project what needs to happen for various markets or products to become successful. Those far reaching predictions may not fully happen within 2018, but we give everyone the chance to note the progress made towards their predictions at the end of the year. (See Reflection On 2017: Design And EDA and Man... » read more

Will Fab Tool Boom Cycle Last?


Fab equipment spending is on pace for a record year in 2017, and it now appears that momentum could continue into 2018. Fab tool vendors found themselves in the midst of an unexpected boom cycle in 2017, thanks to enormous demand for equipment in [getkc id="208" comment="3D NAND"] and, to a lesser degree, [getkc id="93" kc_name="DRAM"]. In the logic/foundry business, however, equipment deman... » read more

Using Emulation to Deliver Storage Market Innovations


SSDs have the unique challenges of using NAND flash as a storage medium. As storage technology and use models continue to evolve, so do the verification tools needed to solve today’s challenges. The Veloce emulator is well suited to address these challenges as has been proven by leading storage companies who are using it today in their production environments. To read more, click here. » read more

Improving Data Security


For industrial, military and a multitude of modern business applications, data security is of course incredibly important. While software based encryption often works well for consumer and some enterprise environments, in the context of the embedded systems used in industrial and military applications, something that is of a simpler nature and is intrinsically more robust is usually going to be... » read more

What Is Spin Torque MRAM?


The memory market is going in several different directions at once. On one front, the traditional memory types, such as DRAM and flash, remain the workhorse technologies. Then, several vendors are readying the next-generation memory types. As part of an ongoing series, Semiconductor Engineering will explore where the new and traditional memory technologies are heading. For this segment, P... » read more

What Does An IoT Chip Look Like?


By Ed Sperling and Jeff Dorsch Internet of Things chip design sounds like a simple topic on the face of it. Look deeper, though, and it becomes clear there is no single IoT, and certainly no type of chip that will work across the ever-expanding number of applications and markets that collectively make up the IoT. Included under this umbrella term are sensors, various types of processors, ... » read more

Wear Down Your Virtual Prototype


Just when you think you know all variations of embedded software development you are exposed to another domain of unique and interesting challenges. This happened to me awhile back when I started to learn about the software for Flash Memory controllers. You can read a lot about Flash market growth predictions or about the physical challenges of the next generation storage technologies he... » read more

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