Rino Micheloni

Digital photography, MP3, digital video, etc. make extensive use of NAND-based Flash cards as storage media. To realize how much NAND Flash memories pervade every aspect of our life, just imagine how our recent habits would change if the NAND memories suddenly disappeared. To take a picture it would be necessary to find a film (as well as a traditional camera…), disks or even magnetic tapes would be used to record a video or to listen a song, and a cellular phone would return to be a simple mean of communication rather than a multimedia console. The development of NAND Flash memories will not be set down on the mere evolution of personal entertainment systems since a new killer application can trigger a further success: the replacement of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with Solid State Drives (SSDs). SSD is made up by a microcontroller and several NANDs. As NAND is the technology driver for IC circuits, Flash designers and technologists have to deal with a lot of challenges. Therefore, SSD (system) developers must understand Flash technology in order to exploit its benefits and countermeasure its weaknesses. Inside NAND Flash Memories is a comprehensive guide of the NAND world: from circuits design (analog and digital) to Flash reliability (including radiation effects), from testing issues to high-performance (DDR) interface, from error correction codes to NAND applications like Flash cards and SSDs.

Nowadays it is hard to find an electronic device which does not use codes: for example, we listen to music via heavily encoded audio CD's and we watch movies via encoded DVD's. There is at least one area where the use of encoding/decoding is not so developed, yet: Flash non-volatile memories. Flash memory high-density, low power, cost effectiveness, and scalable design make it an ideal choice to fuel the explosion of multimedia products, like USB keys, MP3 players, digital cameras and solid-state disk. In ECC for Non-Volatile Memories the authors expose the basics of coding theory needed to understand the application to memories, as well as the relevant design topics, with reference to both NOR and NAND Flash architectures. A collection of software routines is also included for better understanding. The authors form a research group (now at Qimonda) which is the typical example of a fruitful collaboration between mathematicians and engineers.

The electronics and information technology revolution continues, but it is a critical time in the development of technology. Once again, we stand on the brink of a new era where emerging research will yield exciting applications and products destined to transform and enrich our daily lives! The potential is staggering and the ultimate impact is unimaginable, considering the continuing marriage of te- nology with fields such as medicine, communications and entertainment, to name only a few. But who will actually be responsible for transforming these potential new pr- ucts into reality? The answer, of course, is today’s (and tomorrow’s) design en- neers! The design of integrated circuits today remains an essential discipline in s- port of technological progress, and the authors of this book have taken a giant step forward in the development of a practice-oriented treatise for design engineers who are interested in the practical, industry-driven world of integrated circuit - sign.

Digital photography, MP3, digital video, etc. make extensive use of NAND-based Flash cards as storage media. To realize how much NAND Flash memories pervade every aspect of our life, just imagine how our recent habits would change if the NAND memories suddenly disappeared. To take a picture it would be necessary to find a film (as well as a traditional camera…), disks or even magnetic tapes would be used to record a video or to listen a song, and a cellular phone would return to be a simple mean of communication rather than a multimedia console. The development of NAND Flash memories will not be set down on the mere evolution of personal entertainment systems since a new killer application can trigger a further success: the replacement of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with Solid State Drives (SSDs). SSD is made up by a microcontroller and several NANDs. As NAND is the technology driver for IC circuits, Flash designers and technologists have to deal with a lot of challenges. Therefore, SSD (system) developers must understand Flash technology in order to exploit its benefits and countermeasure its weaknesses. Inside NAND Flash Memories is a comprehensive guide of the NAND world: from circuits design (analog and digital) to Flash reliability (including radiation effects), from testing issues to high-performance (DDR) interface, from error correction codes to NAND applications like Flash cards and SSDs.

Nowadays it is hard to find an electronic device which does not use codes: for example, we listen to music via heavily encoded audio CD's and we watch movies via encoded DVD's. There is at least one area where the use of encoding/decoding is not so developed, yet: Flash non-volatile memories. Flash memory high-density, low power, cost effectiveness, and scalable design make it an ideal choice to fuel the explosion of multimedia products, like USB keys, MP3 players, digital cameras and solid-state disk. In ECC for Non-Volatile Memories the authors expose the basics of coding theory needed to understand the application to memories, as well as the relevant design topics, with reference to both NOR and NAND Flash architectures. A collection of software routines is also included for better understanding. The authors form a research group (now at Qimonda) which is the typical example of a fruitful collaboration between mathematicians and engineers.

The electronics and information technology revolution continues, but it is a critical time in the development of technology. Once again, we stand on the brink of a new era where emerging research will yield exciting applications and products destined to transform and enrich our daily lives! The potential is staggering and the ultimate impact is unimaginable, considering the continuing marriage of te- nology with fields such as medicine, communications and entertainment, to name only a few. But who will actually be responsible for transforming these potential new pr- ucts into reality? The answer, of course, is today’s (and tomorrow’s) design en- neers! The design of integrated circuits today remains an essential discipline in s- port of technological progress, and the authors of this book have taken a giant step forward in the development of a practice-oriented treatise for design engineers who are interested in the practical, industry-driven world of integrated circuit - sign.