Silicon Motion targets TLC NAND flash with new SM2256 SSD controller

Flash Memory Summit 2014 - Silicon Motion today announced a new 4-channel controller designed to leverage the value of 3-bit per cell (TLC) NAND flash in a consumer SSD product. The new SM2256 uses new NANDXtend technology to increase TLC flash's endurance from 1K P/E cycles to 3K P/E cycles.

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The SM2256 is a high-performance SATA 6Gb/s SSD controller ideally suited for client SSDs targeting HDD

replacement, ultrabooks and tablets. The SM2256 is a complete merchant ASIC/firmware solution supporting

1x/1y/1z nm triple-level cell (TLC) NAND and extensible to 3D NAND from all major NAND suppliers.

Leveraging Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2256

provides a comprehensive data protection and enhances the endurance and retention of TLC NAND, delivering

more than three times better durability for TLC SSD.

Performance should follow the company's quoted specifications since Silicon Motion provides SSD builders with the controller and firmware for a turn key solution.

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Ultra High Performance

Sequential Read: 524 MB/s*

Sequential Write: 400 MB/s*

Random Read: 90,000 IOPS*

Random Write: 70,000 IOPS*

No word yet on capacity but with four channels we expect the new SM2256 to ship in a 1TB capacity size.

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Flash Forward TLC flash should hit the market in Q4, 2014 so we also expect this controller to arrive at our office before the holiday buying season. Silicon Motion's award winning MLC controller has made the review rounds in recent months, shipping in products like the ADATA SP610 and Corsair Force Series LX.