Apacer Technology Unveils SLC-liteX 3D NAND SSD

Apacer Technology Inc. has taken 3D NAND flash optimization to new heights.

The company announces the SLC-liteX that can provide a 100,000 P/E cycles.

That’s 3 to 33 times higher than competing 2D MLC or 3D TLC products can offer. 5G and AIoT manufacturers who are invested in large-scale data collection and analysis, including those demanding higher capacities, higher performance and higher endurance, will see the advantages of this development.

According to Allied Market Research, “The global 3D NAND flash memory market size was valued at $12.38 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $78.42 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 20.3% from 2021 to 2030.”

The endurance of any NAND flash product can be measured in P/E cycles. Every time a write or erase action is performed, the flash cell will suffer damage. In the industrial world, 3,000 P/E cycles was considered quite a competitive number. But with increasing demands for greater endurance thresholds in applications such as 5G O-RAN and edge computing switches, the market wanted more – while still recognizing the importance of cost-effectiveness. The company’s crack team of firmware experts tackled the problem and were able to tweak the technology to deliver 100,000 P/E cycles. Careful cell distribution management of the 3D TLC structure was necessary in order to correctly adjust the voltage delta and charge sensing. Furthermore, powered by carefully selected industrial grade NAND components, the firmware structure is optimized to enhance NAND flash stability during daily operations, and the error handling algorithm is improved to avoid any unexpected ECC errors.

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This also benefits from the firm‘s long-term cooperation with some of the top component and material suppliers, and long-term stable component supply is assured. In fact, company’s SATA SH250 series are available with 100,000 P/E cycles in a variety of specs. Gaming, surveillance, edge computing and 5G smart IoT operations will benefit from the increase in endurance. For manufacturers building products that are planned for use in challenging environments, these products are also available with established value-adding features such as wide-temperature operation, which allows devices to function smoothly even in temperatures as low as -40°C or as high as 85°C.