NAND flash continues to be the storage backbone for embedded systems.

Its capacity gains have been growing by packing more bits per cell as well as multilayer, 3D dies. This has challenged chip designers that have had to move away from floating gate technology. Likewise, higher performance means the older interfaces like eMMC have proven inadequate for moving bits fast enough. Newer interfaces such as Universal Flash Storage (UFS) and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe), based on PCI Express, bring higher throughput along with more advanced functionality.

The application space for NAND flash has also increased. It is being used in many places within the automotive space from supporting advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to storing more mapping information for location services. The internet-of-things (IoT) benefits from larger and more efficient local storage as well. Keeping abreast of the technology can be a challenge. We hope the collection of NAND flash articles in this ebook will inform and enlighten. They address technologies like UFS.