CES: Phison Demoed 4-Bits Per Cell QLC SSDs With PCIe Gen 4×4 and SATA Performance

At CES, Phison Electronics Corp. has demonstrated performance using 4-bits per cell QLC NAND flash controllers and SSDs.

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In its private suite, the company showcased the addition of support for QLC NAND to its shipping E16 PCIe Gen 4×4, E12 PCIe Gen 3×4, and S12 SATA controllers that use TLC NAND. The firm’s approach leverages controllers that were qualified by tier-1 OEMs, are in mass production now, and extends SSD designs to utilize either TLC or QLC NAND. The company’s proprietary QLC NAND controller technology enables higher SSD capacities in standard form factors while meeting the performance demands of mainstream applications.

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The firm’s E16 series controller for PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSDs can achieve up to 4TB in capacity with QLC NAND and reaches speeds of 4.9GB/s for sequential reads and 3.8GB/s for sequential writes. The E12 series controller enables PCIe Gen 3×4 NVMe SSDs and has a capacity of up to 8TB and speeds of 3.4GB/s sequential reads, 3.0GB/s sequential writes with QLC NAND. For the SATA interface, the firm is also demonstrating the S12 controller series SSDs with up to 16TB using QLC NAND and performance at 550MB/s sequential reads and 530MB/s sequential writes. The company’s DRAM-less S13T controllers enable smaller form factors, have a capacity of up to 2TB, and operate at 550MB/s sequential reads and 500MB/s sequential writes.

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“PC OEMs are always striving to offer higher storage capacities combined with performance to provide a quality PC experience for end users,” according to Jeff Janukowicz, research VP, IDC. “SSD manufacturers are increasingly looking to adopt QLC NAND technology in PCs, and the latest gen of SSD controllers such as Phison’s QLC client SSD controller are poised to enable suppliers to deliver SSDs that meet PC performance expectations at higher capacities, but at more affordable prices.“

“Adding QLC NAND support to the commercially successful E16, E12, and S12 series SSD controllers was a high priority request from our customers. Phison not only listened, but we are proud to offer QLC NAND support with industry leading capacities and performance that provides our customers with key differentiating advantages,” said KS Pua, chairman and CEO, Phison.

The company has also demonstrated its QLC enabled removable storage solutions for microSD, USB 3.2, and Thunderbolt 3TM, showing performance on all of the interfaces.

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August 13, 2019 | Press Release