TDK Corporation announced the development and launch of the CFA9D Series of CompactFlash™ (CF) cards and the SDA9D Series of 2.5inch SSDs with parallel ATA (PATA) support, both of which are equipped with TDK-developed TDK GBDriver RA9 NAND Flash Memory Controller ICs. Sales are scheduled to commence in August 2017.

The CFA9D Series and SDA9D Series incorporate high-speed, high-durability Single Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, and come in a wide range of capacities from 128 MBytes to 32 GBytes (for the CFA9D Series) and 1 GByte to 64 GBytes (for the SDA9D Series) respectively.

Both series are equipped with auto refresh functionality that refreshes data automatically at startup and periodically during use. Together with enhanced error correction capabilities (expandable up to 30-bit errors per 512 Bytes), this functionality offers a high level of data reliability.

In addition to this, built-in power supply backup circuitry makes it easy to design systems for in the event of power interruption.

These series also incorporate global static wear leveling capabilities, achieving long life span performance to take full advantage of NAND flash memory endurance. At the same time, the use of Self-Monitoring & Analysis Reporting Technology (SMART) data facilitates accurate drive lifespan management, enabling simple and easy maintenance such as in performing periodic replacements.

The new products also have an enhanced range of data security features, including ATA security capabilities and TDK’s own original security functionality, to provide robust protection from data falsification and leakage.

These products will be on display at the Embedded Systems Expo (ESEC), which will take place at Tokyo Big Sight on May 10–12, 2017.

Main applications

。Factory automation equipment such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment, NC machine tools, sequencers, programmable logic controllers, panel computers, and embedded CPU boards

。Railway and transport equipment such as automated ticket gates, automated ticket vending machines, commuter pass vending machines, train operation management systems, automated air ticket vending machines, and automated check-in systems

。Automotive navigation systems, portable navigation devices (PNDs), digital tachographs, data loggers, dashboard cameras, rear view monitors and other automotive/in-car equipment

。Office equipment such as multi-function printers (MFPs), label printers, barcode printers, commercial projectors, telephone conferencing systems, and electronic blackboards

。Amusement devices such as karaoke on demand, arcade games, and game consoles

。Advertising display equipment such as digital signage, electronic billboards, and electronic point-of-purchase (POP) displays

。Cashless registers and other point-of-sales (POS) equipment, convenience store and kiosk terminals, ATMs and other banking terminals

。Medical / healthcare equipment and data analysis devices such as diagnostic imaging systems, blood analysis equipment, medical PCs, electronic patient records systems, DNA microarray systems, automatic biochemistry analyzers, remote medical care devices, and automated care devices

。Base station equipment for mobile phone systems and other communications and broadcasting equipment and information system devices

。Smart grid equipment such as smart electricity meters, power grid infrastructure equipment, automated power equipment control systems, energy management systems, and building air conditioning systems

。Security, crime-prevention and surveillance equipment such as biometric authentication systems, entry/exit control systems, and security terminals for surveillance cameras

。Disaster prevention related equipment such as earthquake early warning systems, and household fire detectors and alarms

。Tablets, netbooks, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPCs) and other mobile information terminals, thin client PCs, RAID SSDs and other IT equipment and cloud computing systems

Main features and advantages

1.Host Interface

The CFA9D Series and SDA9D Series are compatible with PIO 0–6, Multiword DMA 0–4 and Ultra DMA 0–6 and support a read access speed of up to 50 MBytes per second, and a write access speed of up to 30 MBytes per second (depending on the flash connection configuration and the system environment).

2.Global Static Wear Leveling

TDK’s proprietary global static wear leveling algorithm counts the number of times each memory block is programmed (erased) and replaces all blocks uniformly. Static blocks such as for the OS are also periodically leveled, which drastically improves the lifespan of the installed drive. The range for static wear leveling can be freely set. (In this case, dynamic wear leveling control is carried out for other areas of memory not set as static wear leveling areas.)

3.Enhanced Power Interruption Tolerance

The new CFA9D Series and SDA9D Series are equipped with TDK’s GBDriver RA9 controller IC, which utilizes a proprietary algorithm and newly-added internal power supply backup circuitry to reduce the risk of collateral errors (such as the destruction of data other than those being written at the time of a power interruption) during the data writing process. These features make the new CF cards and PATA SSDs highly reliable and resistant against sudden power failure-related issues.

4.Error Correction and Recovery

With a flash identification function selecting either 15-bit ECC per 512 Bytes or 30-bit ECC per 512 Bytes, the CFA9D Series and SDA9D Series boast error correction capabilities that are higher than the value required for NAND flash memories.

The auto refresh function reads all data from all flash memory areas both at startup and periodically during use, and performs automatic error correction to prevent data losses caused by read disturb errors, data holding errors and other errors. The auto refresh function is performed in the background and causes little delay in the response to commands, even during the correction process.

5.Other Functions

(a) Function for setting the total number of sectors (clipping function)

The number of logical sectors assigned to the data region may be increased or decreased in units of a single sector.

(b) Security functions

The CFA9D Series and SDA9D Series offer ATA standard security functionality that allows users to set and remove passwords, enabling independent authentication and protection of important data.

(c) TDK’s original security function (optional)

This function restricts third parties from reading users’ data stored on NAND flash memories. (This function requires a separate non-disclosure agreement.)

(d) Support for SMART commands

With the use of SMART commands, it is possible to retrieve data on the number of overwrites (erases) in all memory blocks. This makes it easy to ascertain the state of flash memory, and enables accurate lifespan management.

6.Solution Support

TDK has independently developed and marketed the GBDriver series of NAND type flash memory controllers since 2000. We provide technical support to customers in Japan and overseas backed up by advanced proprietary technologies, including dispatch of field application engineers (FAEs) and support for implementation of reliability monitoring functions, for which there is strong demand in the industrial equipment embedded flash storage market.

Production and Marketing Schedule

。Production location: Taiwan

。Scheduled production volume: 10,000 units per month

。Start of production: July 2017

Source：http://www.global.tdk.com/