TDK CAS1B Series of 6Gb SATA With CFast Card Type SSDs

TDK Corporation announces the CAS1B series of 6G SATA compatible CFast type solid state drives for industrial applications, featuring the NAND flash memory controller chip GBDriver GS1.

These products will be available from January 2016.

Recently, the use of and robust card type storage devices with high capacity is increasing in industrial applications, as OSs tend to have higher overheads and ease of handling is also an important factor. In response to such demands, the company has developed a series of CFast cards, which boast 3.2 times faster read and 1.9 faster write speed than the existing CAG3B series, while maintaining excellent reliability.

Industrial applications also increasingly call for SSDs with MLC NAND type memory. In such cases, improved data retention capability as well as high reliability becomes important considerations along with the regular benchmark test results. To meet such requirements, the new controller features the recovery and refresh functions implemented by the existing GBDriver series of controllers, and also comes standard with a power interruption tolerance algorithm as well as an integrated power supply protection circuit. This assures robust data reliability both with SLC and with MLC NAND type flash memory.

The standard lineup also provides the choice of pSLC flash memory, which offers higher robustness than MLC and lower cost per bit than SLC, resulting in a good balance of reliability and cost.

Data security has also been enhanced. In addition to the standard ATA security complement, AES⁽¹⁾ 128-bit and 256-bit encryption and a TDK proprietary security function are also available. This makes it possible to store data in the NAND type flash memory in encrypted form, to guard against the risk of data leaks and tampering, resulting in robust storage security.

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
Cashless registers and other point-of-sales (POS) equipment, convenience store and kiosk terminals, ATMs and other banking terminals
Terminals and thin-client computers, SATA RAID SSD installations and other IT equipment for cloud computing systems
Automotive equipment such as car navigation systems, digital tachographs, drive recorders, and rear-view monitors
Office equipment such as multi-function 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
Medical and measuring instruments and nursing care equipment 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 4th generation (4G) mobile data communication systems such as LTE-Advanced/WiMAX2 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 and surveillance equipment such as biometric authentication systems, entry/exit control systems, and security terminals for surveillance camerasDisaster prevention related equipment such as earthquake early warning systems and household fire detectors

Main features:

Uses GBDriver GS1 NAND flash memory controller
The memory controller chip determines SSD performance and data reliability. The drives use the GBDriver GS1 developed by the company. By reflecting the latest NAND flash memory specifications and developments in the controller design, the firm enhances performance of SSDs and ensures compatibility among flash memory generations. This means that the same product line can meet the flash storage needs of industrial and embedded applications, and the same configuration can be used to fit various flash storage needs and offer enhanced replacement products.
High-speed access combined with high data reliability
Compliant with SATA revision 3.1 specification. Compatible with 6Gb SATA Gen. 3 and NCQ commands. Supports 360MB/s read access and 110MB/s write access ⁽²⁾.
Standard support for products using SLC NAND, MLC NAND and pSLC NAND
Besides products using the latest SLC NAND type flash memory, MLC NAND products and pSLC NAND products are also included in the standard lineup. This allows customers to easily select the solution for every need.
Global static wear leveling
Company’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 flash memory. The range for static wear leveling can be freely set. (In this case, dynamic wear leveling is used for other areas.)
Improved power interruption tolerance
A power interruption tolerance algorithm on the SSD onboard controller and an internal power supply protection circuit reliably prevent collateral data errors such as corruption of data other than the data being written if power is interrupted when writing data. This provides reliability against sudden power supply problems.
Error recovery
The auto-refresh function reads all data of the flash memory including little used areas and automatically performs error correction if required. This guards against data loss due to read disturbance errors and data retention errors. Auto refresh processing is performed in the background, so even when performing correction processing, there is virtually no delay in command response.
Data delete function
A function for specifying a data range and completely deleting all data in it is available. This is useful to protect personal information in keeping with a privacy policy.
Security functions:
Support for SMART command
The number of times all memory blocks have been programmed (erased) can be obtained using the SMART command, which allows for easy determination of the flash memory status and facilitates appropriate lifespan management. Proprietary software from TDK can be used for this purpose free of charge.
Solution support
The company has independently developed and marketed the GBDriver series of NAND type flash memory controllers since 2000. It provides technical support to customers in Japan and overseas backed up by advanced proprietary technologies, including dispatch of field application engineers 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

Production capacity: 10,000 units per month
Start production: December 2015

⁽¹⁾ AES: Advanced Encryption Standard. A block encryption method registered as United States Department of Commerce Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS PUB197.
⁽²⁾ With onboard SLC flash memory. May vary depending on system environment.