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Chapter 2
SSD Architecture and PCI Express Interface
K. Eshghi and R. Micheloni
Abstract Flash-memory-based solid-state disks (SSDs) provide faster random access and data transfer rates than electromechanical drives and today can often serve as rotating-disk replacements, but the host interface to SSDs remains a performance bottleneck. PCI Express (PCIe)-based SSDs together with an emerging standard called NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express) promises to solve the interface bottleneck.
This chapter walks the reader through the SSD block diagram, from the NAND memory to the Flash controller (including wear leveling, bad block management, and garbage collection). PCIe basics and different PCIe SSD architectures are reviewed. Finally, an overview on the standardization effort around PCI Express is presented.
2.1 Introduction
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.
– Steve Jobs
Solid-state drives promise to greatly enhance enterprise storage performance. While electromechanical disk drives have continuously ramped in capacity, the rotatingstorage technology doesn’t provide the access-time or transfer-rate performance required in demanding enterprise applications, including on-line transaction processing, data mining, and cloud computing. Client applications are also in need of
K. Eshghi ( ) • R. Micheloni
Enterprise Computing Division, Integrated Device Technology, Inc.,
San Jose, CA, USA e-mail: kamyar.eshghi@alum.mit.edu; rino.micheloni@ieee.org
R. Micheloni et al., Inside Solid State Drives (SSDs), Springer Series in Advanced Microelectronics 37, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5146-0 2,
© Springer ScienceCBusiness Media Dordrecht 2013
19
20
K. Eshghi and R. Micheloni
an alternative to electromechanical disk drives that can deliver faster response times, use less power, and fit in smaller
SSD Architecture and PCI Express Interface
K. Eshghi and R. Micheloni
Abstract Flash-memory-based solid-state disks (SSDs) provide faster random access and data transfer rates than electromechanical drives and today can often serve as rotating-disk replacements, but the host interface to SSDs remains a performance bottleneck. PCI Express (PCIe)-based SSDs together with an emerging standard called NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express) promises to solve the interface bottleneck.
This chapter walks the reader through the SSD block diagram, from the NAND memory to the Flash controller (including wear leveling, bad block management, and garbage collection). PCIe basics and different PCIe SSD architectures are reviewed. Finally, an overview on the standardization effort around PCI Express is presented.
2.1 Introduction
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.
– Steve Jobs
Solid-state drives promise to greatly enhance enterprise storage performance. While electromechanical disk drives have continuously ramped in capacity, the rotatingstorage technology doesn’t provide the access-time or transfer-rate performance required in demanding enterprise applications, including on-line transaction processing, data mining, and cloud computing. Client applications are also in need of
K. Eshghi ( ) • R. Micheloni
Enterprise Computing Division, Integrated Device Technology, Inc.,
San Jose, CA, USA e-mail: kamyar.eshghi@alum.mit.edu; rino.micheloni@ieee.org
R. Micheloni et al., Inside Solid State Drives (SSDs), Springer Series in Advanced Microelectronics 37, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5146-0 2,
© Springer ScienceCBusiness Media Dordrecht 2013
19
20
K. Eshghi and R. Micheloni
an alternative to electromechanical disk drives that can deliver faster response times, use less power, and fit in smaller
References: Berlin, 2005) www.onfi.org the USENIX Winter Technical Conference, 1995, pp. 155–164 J compactflash systems. IEEE Trans. Consum. Electron. 48(2), 366–375 (May 2002) 2 SSD Architecture and PCI Express Interface memories. IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits 32(May), 662–669 (May 1997) 11 memory. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits. 35(11), 1655–1667 (Nov 2000) 12 (Springer, Dordrecht, 2008) 14 16. R. Budruk, D. Anderson, T. Shanley, Mindshare, PCI Express System Architecture (AddisonWesley, Boston, 2003) 17 AN-724, www.idt.com (Sept 2009) 19