JEDEC Publishes Universal Flash Storage Standard V2.0

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, announced the publication of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) version 2.0.

Developed for mobile applications and computing systems requiring high performance and low power consumption, the new UFS v2.0 standard offers increased link bandwidth for performance improvement, a security features extension as well as additional power saving features over the prior version. JESD220B Universal Flash Storage v2.0 may be downloaded free of charge (registration needed).

UFS is a performance interface designed for use in computing and mobile systems requiring low power consumption such as smart phones and tablets. Its high speed serial interface and optimized protocol enable significant improvements in throughput and system performance.

Growth in the mobile market coupled with an increasing focus on multimedia applications continues to drive both usage models and memory bandwidth requirements, and UFS v2.0 builds on JEDEC flash memory storage standards designed to help address this demand. In UFS v2.0, the link bandwidth has been increased from 300MB/s in UFS v1.1 to up to 600MB/s per lane, and multilane support has been introduced allowing up to 1.2GB/s per each data transfer direction.

To achieve higher performance and most power efficient data transport, JEDEC UFS aligns with specifications from the MIPI Alliance, Inc. to form its Interconnect Layer. This collaboration continues with UFS v2.0, which references the M-PHY Version 3.0 specification and the UniProSM Version 1.6 specification.

JEDEC has also published two complementary standards, JESD223B UFS Host Controller Interface (UFSHCI) version 2.0, and JESD223-1 UFS Host Controller Interface (UFSHCI), Unified Memory Extension.

JESD223B is intended to simplify the design process by defining a standard host controller interface on which system designers can create a common host controller software driver layer to work with UFS host controller hardware from different manufacturers. The HCI functionality also enables higher performance and power efficiency by minimizing the involvement of the host processor in the operation of the flash storage subsystem.

The JESD223-1 UFSHCI Unified Memory Extension standard defines the interface between the UFS driver and the UFS host controller. In addition to the register interface, it defines data structures inside the system memory, which are used to exchange data, control and status information. It offers the possibility to move device internal working memory into the system memory to reduce overall system cost and to improve device performance.

JESD223B and JESD223-1 may also be downloaded free of charge from the JEDEC website.

“UFS v2.0 offers a clear value proposition to the industry, with significant performance improvements that will lead to a better overall mobile device user experience,” said Mian Quddus, chairman of the JEDEC board of directors and the JC-64 Committee for Embedded Memory Storage and Removable Memory Cards.

He added: “Memory manufacturers and leading consumer device and mobile OEMs strongly support UFS and have devoted countless hours to the development of this latest update.”

“UFS 2.0 will drive next generation mobile devices to new performance levels not available before,” said UFSA president Lisa Rhoden. “The new JEDEC standard demonstrates the power of industry leaders working together to benefit consumers around the world.”

“The substantial performance improvement provided by UFS 2.0 will accelerate the already strong momentum of UFS in the mobile market,” said Andrew Haines, VP marketing, Arasan Chip Systems, Inc. “We are pleased to have contributed to JEDEC’s effort to rapidly evolve the standard in order to meet the needs of consumers and our UFS IP customers.”

“UFS technology continues to evolve with generation 2.0. With a higher bandwidth and features consolidation, the spec responds to emerging mobile challenges,” said Micron Technology, Inc.‘s senior director for wireless solutions froup, mobile technology, Marco Dallabora. “Standardization activities have been focused to create a differentiating solution in the mobile storage arena.”

“The mobile industry has been waiting for much higher performing, high efficiency storage devices and Samsung sees the new UFS 2.0 JEDEC standard as empowering the production of flash devices that easily meet this need,” said JaeHyeong Lee, VP, memory product planning and application engineering, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. “The UFS 2.0 standard will spur development of the finest Samsung mobile storage devices, whose performance equates to that of high-performance solid state drives, and which will enable the next generation of HPC devices with a better experience for mobile consumers.”

“Toshiba is expecting great potential on next generation mobile storage, UFS, and will continue our contribution to the market expansion and standardization by JEDEC through developing UFS memory device and supporting UFS host IP,” said Shigeo Ohshima, technology executive, Toshiba Corporation Semiconductor Company. “With the advent of UFS 2.0, standardized Unified Memory Extension (UME) will enable further increase of performance, which Toshiba expects to trigger the expansion of UFS market from smartphone / tablet to more performance demanding markets, such as personal computers.”