KIOXIA Europe has announced today that it has commenced sampling of its new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Ver. 4.1 embedded memory devices specifically designed for automotive applications. These new devices are engineered to meet the stringent demands of next-generation in-vehicle systems, offering significant enhancements in performance, flexibility, and diagnostics.
The UFS 4.1 devices are powered by KIOXIA’s generation 8 BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and an in-house designed controller technology. They are available in capacities of 128 gigabytes (GB), 256GB, 512GB, and 1 terabyte (TB). These memory solutions are tailored to support various automotive applications, including infotainment systems, Advanced Driving Assistant Systems (ADAS), telematics, domain controllers, and vehicle computers. The devices meet AEC-Q100/104 Grade 2 standards, allowing them to support case temperatures up to 115°C. Sample shipments for the 1TB device began in June, with 128GB and 256GB devices following in July.
Compared to KIOXIA’s UFS 3.1 generation, the new UFS 4.1 (512 GB) devices deliver substantial performance improvements:
- Approximately 2.1 times sequential read performance
- Approximately 2.5 times sequential write performance
- Approximately 2.1 times random read performance
- Approximately 3.7 times random write performance
These advancements aim to provide a more responsive user experience within data-intensive automotive environments. Key features of the new UFS 4.1 devices include:
- Compliance with the UFS 4.1 Specification, incorporating WriteBooster related extensions such as WriteBooster Buffer Resizing and Pinned Partial Flush Mode for enhanced flexibility and optimal performance.
- Backward compatibility with UFS 4.0 and UFS 3.1.
- Enhanced diagnostic capabilities, including a new vendor-specific device health descriptor that simplifies device status monitoring and predictive maintenance.
The UFS Ver. 4.1 devices integrate KIOXIA’s innovative BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and a controller within a JEDEC-standard package. This generation 8 BiCS FLASH technology features CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology, an architectural innovation that significantly boosts power efficiency, performance, and density by directly bonding CMOS circuitry to the memory array.
“Specifically designed for automotive environments, the Automotive UFS Ver. 4.1 devices from KIOXIA offer the automotive-grade, higher performance and efficiency required for the implementation of advanced capabilities in infotainment, ADAS, domain controllers, and other vehicle computing applications,” said Axel Störmann, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Memory and SSD products, KIOXIA Europe GmbH.
