Kioxia Corporation has released samples^[1] of the industry’s first^[2] Universal Flash Storage^[3] (UFS) Ver. 4.0 embedded flash memory devices designed for automotive applications. Mainly, these new, higher-performing devices deliver fast embedded storage transfer speeds in a small package size. Also, they suit various next-generation automotive applications, including telematics, infotainment systems and ADAS^[4]. The improved performance^[5] of UFS products from Kioxia – including approximately +100% for sequential read speed and approximately +40% for sequential write speed – enables these applications to take advantage of 5G’s connectivity benefits. Accordingly, it leads to faster system startup times and a better user experience.

The first to introduce UFS technology^[6], Kioxia continues to move the technology forward. Its new UFS Ver. 4.0 devices integrate the company’s innovative BiCS FLASH™ 3D flash memory and a controller in a JEDEC-standard package. Specifically, UFS 4.0 incorporates MIPI M-PHY 5.0 and UniPro 2.0 and supports theoretical interface speeds of up to 23.2Gbps per lane or 46.4Gbps per device. Also, it is backward compatible with UFS 3.1.

Additionally, the new Kioxia devices support High Speed Link Startup Sequence (HS-LSS) features. These enable faster Link Startup (M-PHY and UniPro initialization sequence) between device and host at HS-G1 Rate A (1248Mbps) than that of conventional UFS. Consequently, this will reduce the time for Link Startup by approximately 70% compared to the conventional method.

Advanced features and functionalities are supported in the new UFS Ver. 4.0 devices to address demanding automotive application requirements, including:

Refresh Feature: Improves data reliability by refreshing degraded data to prevent data corruption even in the harsh, demanding in-vehicle environment.

Extended Diagnosis Feature: This enables users to view important information from the UFS device, allowing preventative action to be taken.

Available in capacities of 128, 256, and 512GB, the new Kioxia devices support a wide temperature range, meet AEC[7]-Q100 Grade2 requirements, and offer enhanced reliability capabilities that complex automotive applications require.

Notes:

^[1] Specification of the samples may differ from commercial products.

^[2] As of January 30, 2024. Kioxia survey.

^[3] Universal Flash Storage (UFS) is a product category for a class of embedded memory products built to the JEDEC UFS standard specification. Due to its serial interface, UFS supports full duplexing, which enables both concurrent reading and writing between the host processor and UFS device.

^[4] Advanced Driving-Assistance System

^[5] Compared to Kioxia Corporation’s previous generation 512GB device No. “THGJFGT2T85BAB5”

^[6] Kioxia Corporation’s first sample shipment, as of Feb. 8, 2013. https://www.kioxia.com/en-jp/business/news/2013/20130208-1.html

^[7] Electrical component qualification requirements defined by the AEC (Automotive Electronics Council).