An Introduction to: Non-Volatile Memory

Endurance, lifetime and reliability of NAND flash based storage media depends very much on the quality of the flash memory controller and its firmware, which manages the intrinsic physical properties and weaknesses.

This paper provides an overview of NAND flash technology, which is the most widely used storage technology in today’s non-volatile memory based storage systems. NAND flash memory is explained in detail, starting with the transistor, and then covering its structure and functionality. The handling of program, read and erase processes is considered with regard to different technologies, including 3D flash. The shortcomings and challenges of NAND flash are also explained, in conjunction with the solutions necessary to overcome them.

Content

• NAND Flash Memory

• NAND Flash Structure

• SLC, MLC, TLC & QLC

• NAND Flash Weaknesses

• 3D NAND