Overview

As electronics content and data grow exponentially in today's vehicle, automakers are now beginning to incorporate PCIe NVMe SSDs, which will be more widely implemented in the next few years.
 

We've designed our latest automotive-grade PCIe NVMe SSD controllers from the ground up with PCIe Gen4 technology and innovative hardware features optimized for true Gen4 performance, low power consumption, and advanced error correction combined with data path and EMI protection.
 

Using 12nm process technology for high throughput, lower power consumption, and rigorous data protection, our controllers provide ultra-high performance and reliability for automotive applications — including a cost-effective PCIe NVMe SSD solution for automotive storage. Ideal for automotive computing environments, we now offer controllers with built-in SR-IOV capability, delivering a direct, high-speed PCIe interface supporting up to eight virtual machines that are capable of fulfilling multiple requirements and functions.

Driving the Future of Automotive Applications: Centralized Architecture

The idea of centralized architecture is to integrate all electronic systems into a centrally controlled platform, which requires a higher-end transmission system and various storage applications.
 

When it comes to implementing virtualization in high-speed data networks with a PCIe bus, SR-IOV allows for greater software functionality and easier remote management — and it's capable of interfacing directly, at high speed and independently, to each virtual machine (VM) via a dedicated virtual function (VF) implemented in the SSD controller. This can only be delivered by PCIe SSDs, which can support future vehicles requiring implementation in a centralized architecture.

Here are the competitive advantages our SSD controllers provide for the automotive industry:

Data Path Protection

• End-to-end data path protection
• SRAM ECC for SRAM soft/hard errors

TSMC Automotive Service Package

• Tightened process control and scrap criteria
• Documentation and failure analysis

Extended Temperature and Voltage

• -40°C to +85°C (Grade 3)
• -40°C to +105°C (Grade 2) production test
• High-voltage SRAM test

Traceability

• OTP controller die stores unique ID to trace back wafer map or wafer lot

AECC

AEC-Q100 Grade 3/2

ISO 26262

ASPICE certification

As the world's leading supplier of NAND flash controllers, we're dedicated to providing a broad range of high-performance solutions that satisfies the strictest design requirements for quality, reliability, and safety. That's why Silicon Motion collaborates with the AECC and undergoes an exhaustive qualification process to ensure that PCIe Gen4 standards and new technologies meet the future demands of the connected vehicle ecosystem.

Technologies

Built-in SR-IOV Capability for Automotive Storage

Sharing a storage resource across multiple ECUs at near native speed
The SR-IOV architecture applies the concept of virtualization. This provides the flexibility to run a VM on any supported hardware target and optimizes the usage of the available hardware resources. The ultimate result is reduced hardware costs: A data center that implements a virtualized system can perform more computing operations with fewer servers than an older, non-virtualized system. 

The advantage of virtualized architecture is that data transfers no longer need to be routed via the hypervisor (virtual machine manager, or VMM), thus eliminating the delay caused by translating software code from PCIe format into hypervisor format and back again. This also reduces the burden on the CPU in which the hypervisor runs. 

Silicon Motion's SSD controller offers built-in SR-IOV capability and supports up to eight VMs, which can interface directly at high speed — and independently — to each VM via a dedicated virtual function (VF) implemented in the SSD controller.
 

TSMC 12nm FinFET Process Technology

Our controllers' progressive architecture is based on 12nm process technology, allowing for high throughput, lower power consumption, and uncompromising data protection combined with ultra-high performance and dependability in an economical PCIe NVMe SSD storage solution.

7th Generation NANDXtend^® ECC Technology

More Reliable, Efficient and Power-saving ECC technology for the latest and next-generation 3D NAND
NANDXtend^® is an advanced firmware technology exclusively developed by Silicon Motion to meet the design requirements of SSDs with 3D NAND. Combined with LDPC (low-density parity-check), RAID Data Recovery correction technologies, the NANDXtend^® three-level error correction algorithm can decode in parallel and correct errors with precision and at high speed. Together, these technologies extend the P/E cycle performance of 3D NAND, prolonging the SSD's lifespan and ensuring data integrity.The new generation NANDXtend^® includes a performance-optimized 4KB LDPC engine with an advanced firmware algorithm that delivers higher power efficiency, decoding efficiency, and correction capability to maintain consistent data throughout and provide a better user experience, even as error bits increase throughout the product lifecycle of NAND flash. 
 

End to End Data Path Protection

Silicon Motion's SSD controller solutions incorporate full data error detection with recovery engines to provide enhanced data integrity throughout the entire Host-to-NAND-to-Host data path. The data recovery algorithm can effectively detect any error in the SSD data path, including hardware (i.e. ASIC) errors, firmware errors, and memory errors arising in SRAM, DRAM, or NAND.

Downloads

White Paper

Documentation	Download
The Role of Centralized Storage in the Emerging Zonal Automotive Architecture
Saving cost and reducing CPU usage in the next generation of ADAS