Universal Flash Storage

Not to be confused with the Unix File System, a file system implementation in some Unix and BSD operating systems with the same abbreviation.

Universal Flash Storage (UFS) is a flash storage specification for digital cameras, mobile phones and consumer electronic devices.[1][2] It was designed to bring higher data transfer speed and increased reliability to flash memory storage, while reducing market confusion and removing the need for different adapters for different types of cards.[3] The standard encompasses both packages permanently embedded (via ball grid array package) within a device (eUFS), and removable UFS memory cards.

Overview

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UFS uses NAND flash. It may use multiple stacked 3D TLC NAND flash dies (integrated circuits) with an integrated controller.[4]

The proposed flash memory specification is supported by consumer electronics companies such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix.[5] UFS is positioned as a replacement for eMMCs and SD cards. The electrical interface for UFS uses the M-PHY,[6] developed by the MIPI Alliance, a high-speed serial interface targeting 2.9 Gbit/s per lane with up-scalability to 5.8 Gbit/s per lane.[7][8] UFS implements a full-duplex serial LVDS interface that scales better to higher bandwidths than the 8-lane parallel and half-duplex interface of eMMCs. Unlike eMMC, Universal Flash Storage is based on the SCSI architectural model and supports SCSI Tagged Command Queuing.[9] The standard is developed by, and available from, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association.

Software support

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The Linux kernel supports UFS.[10] OpenBSD 7.3 and later support UFS.[11] Windows 10 and later support UFS.[12]

History

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In 2010, the Universal Flash Storage Association (UFSA) was founded as an open trade association to promote the UFS standard.[citation needed]

In September 2013, JEDEC published JESD220B UFS 2.0 (update to UFS v1.1 standard published in June 2012). JESD220B Universal Flash Storage v2.0 offers increased link bandwidth for performance improvement, a security features extension and additional power saving features over the UFS v1.1.

On 30 January 2018 JEDEC published version 3.0 of the UFS standard, with a higher 11.6 Gbit/s data rate per lane (1450 MB/s) with the use of MIPI M-PHY v4.1 and UniProSM v1.8. At the MWC 2018, Samsung unveiled embedded UFS (eUFS) v3.0 and uMCP (UFS-based multi-chip package) solutions.[13][14][15]

On 30 January 2020 JEDEC published version 3.1 of the UFS standard.[16] UFS 3.1 introduces Write Booster, Deep Sleep, Performance Throttling Notification and Host Performance Booster for faster, more power efficient and cheaper UFS solutions. The Host Performance Booster feature is optional.[17]

In 2022 Samsung announced version 4.0 doubling from 11.6 Gbit/s to 23.2 Gbit/s with the use of MIPI M-PHY v5.0 and UniPro v2.0. UFS 4.0 introduces File Based Optimization.[18]

As of Q2 2024, Zoned UFS (ZUFS) is in development by SK hynix.[19]

Notable devices

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In February 2013, semiconductor company Toshiba Memory (now Kioxia) started shipping samples of a 64 GB NAND flash chip, the first chip to support the then new UFS standard.[20]

In April 2015, Samsung's Galaxy S6 family was the first phone to ship with eUFS storage using the UFS 2.0 standard.[21]

On 7 July 2016, Samsung announced its first UFS cards, in 32, 64, 128, and 256 GB storage capacities.[22] The cards were based on the UFS 1.0 Card Extension Standard. The 256 GB version was reported to offer sequential read performance up to 530 MB/s and sequential write performance up to 170 MB/s and random performance of 40,000 read IOPS and 35,000 write IOPS. However, they were apparently not actually released to the public.

On 17 November 2016, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 835 SoC with support for UFS 2.1.[23]

On 14 May 2019, OnePlus introduced the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, the first phones to feature built-in eUFS 3.0 (The Galaxy Fold, originally planned to be the first smartphone to feature UFS 3.0 was ultimately delayed after the OnePlus 7's launch).[24]

The first UFS cards began to be publicly sold in early 2020. According to a Universal Flash Storage Association press release, Samsung planned to transition its products to UFS cards during 2020.[25] Several consumer devices with UFS card slots have been released in 2020.

On 08 December 2022, IQOO announced the IQOO 11 which was the first phone to come with UFS 4.0 Storage. After that other android OEMs started using this storage solution on their flagship to upper mid-range category smartphones.[26]

Version comparison

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UFS

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UFS Introduced Bandwidth per lane Max. number of lanes Max. total bandwidth M-PHY version UniPro version
1.0 2011-02-24[27] 300 MB/s 1 300 MB/s ? ?
1.1 2012-06-25[28] ? ?
2.0 2013-09-18[29] 600 MB/s 2 1200 MB/s 3.0 1.6
2.1 2016-04-04[30]
2.2 2020-08[31] ? ?
3.0 2018-01-30[32] 1450 MB/s 2900 MB/s 4.1 1.8
3.1 2020-01-30[16]
4.0 2022-08-17[33] 2900 MB/s 5800 MB/s 5.0 2.0

UFS Card

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UFS Card Introduced Bandwidth per lane Max. number of lanes Max. total bandwidth M-PHY version UniPro version
1.0 2016-03-30[34] 600 MB/s 1 600 MB/s 3.0 1.6
1.1 2018-01-30[32]
3.0 2020-12-08[35] 1200 MB/s 1200 MB/s 4.1 1.8

Implementation

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  • UFS 2.0 has been implemented in Snapdragon 820 and 821. Kirin 950 and 955. Exynos 7420. NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier SOMs
  • UFS 2.1 has been implemented in Snapdragon 712 (710&720G), 730G, 732G, 835, 845 and 855. Kirin 960, 970 and 980. Exynos 9609,[36] 9610,[37] 9611,[38] 9810 and 980.[39]
  • UFS 3.0 has been implemented in Snapdragon 855, 855+, 860, 865, Exynos 9820–9825,[40] and Kirin 990.[41]
  • UFS 3.1 has been implemented in Snapdragon 855+/860, Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon 870, Snapdragon 888, Exynos 2100, and Exynos 2200.[42][43][44]
  • UFS 4.0 has been implemented in MediaTek Dimensity 9200, MediaTek Dimensity 8300 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.[45]

Complementary UFS standards

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On 30 March 2016, JEDEC published version 1.0 of the UFS Card Extension Standard (JESD220-2), which offered many of the features and much of the same functionality as the existing UFS 2.0 embedded device standard, but with additions and modifications for removable cards.[46]

Also in March 2016, JEDEC published version 1.1 of the UFS Unified Memory Extension (JESD220-1A),[47] version 2.1 of the UFS Host Controller Interface (UFSHCI) standard (JESD223C),[48] and version 1.1A of the UFSHCI Unified Memory Extension standard (JESD223-1A).[49]

On January 30, 2018, the UFS Card Extension standard was updated to version 1.1 (JESD220-2A),[50] and the UFSHCI standard was updated to version 3.0 (JESD223D), to align with UFS version 3.0.[51]

Rewrite cycle life

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A UFS drive's rewrite life cycle affects its lifespan. There is a limit to how many write/erase cycles a flash block can accept before it produces errors or fails altogether. Each write/erase cycle causes a flash memory cell's oxide layer to deteriorate. The reliability of a drive is based on three factors: the age of the drive, total terabytes written over time and drive writes per day.[52] This is typical of flash memory in general.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Nokia, Others Back Mobile Memory Standard". PC World. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008.
  2. ^ "JEDEC Announces Publication of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  3. ^ Malykhina, Elena (14 September 2007). "Mobile Tech Companies Work On Flash Memory Standard". Information Week. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Toshiba Begins to Sample UFS 3.0 Drives: 96L 3D TLC NAND, Up to 2.9 GB/s". Anandtech. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  5. ^ Modine, Austin (14 September 2007). "Flash memory makers propose common card". The Channel. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  6. ^ "JEDEC Solid State Technology Association | MIPI Alliance". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  7. ^ "MIPI". MIPI.
  8. ^ "Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Eco-System | TOSHIBA Semiconductor & Storage Products Company | Europe(EMEA)". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Universal Flash Storage: Mobilize Your Data". Design Reuse. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Universal Flash Storage". The Linux Kernel Archives. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  11. ^ "ufshci(4) - OpenBSD manual pages". man.openbsd.org. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  12. ^ lorihollasch (15 November 2023). "Features Supported by StorUFS - Windows drivers". learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Evolving Mobile Solutions: Samsung at MWC 2018 | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website". www.samsung.com.
  14. ^ "eUFS | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website". www.samsung.com.
  15. ^ "Samsung Starts Producing First 512-Gigabyte Universal Flash Storage for Next-Generation Mobile Devices | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website". www.samsung.com.
  16. ^ a b "JEDEC Publishes Update to Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  17. ^ Shilov, Anton. "Faster, Cheaper, Power Efficient UFS Storage: UFS 3.1 Spec Published". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  18. ^ Herreria, Anne (7 September 2022). "FBO Delivers Sustained Mobile Phone Performance". Western Digital Corporate Blog. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  19. ^ Чорновий, Михайло (14 August 2024). "SK Hynix released a new UFS 4.1 and ZUFS 4.0 memory. It is optimized for AI and will be in the Galaxy S25". hi-Tech.ua. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Toshiba ships first NAND flash chips with faster transfer standard". PC World. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2020.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ "The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge Review". Anandtech. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  22. ^ Shilov, Anton. "Samsung Rolls Out Its First UFS Cards: SSD Performance in Card Form-Factor". Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  23. ^ "Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 to sport LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 3.0, will come in 2 variants: Report". First Post. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  24. ^ "OnePlus 7 Pro confirmed to feature UFS 3.0 flash storage". Android Central. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  25. ^ Universal Flash Storage Association (3 January 2020). "UFSA Widens UFS Ecosystem, Adding Vendors of Removable Mobile Cards and Related Technology". Business Wire. Austin, Texas. Retrieved 22 November 2020. "UFS Cards will play a critical role[...]" said Hangu Sohn, vice president of NAND Memory Planning at Samsung Electronics. "Moreover, with a royalty-free form factor and open standard design, we expect to see a rapid transition to these cards in 2020."
  26. ^ "UFS 4.0 Specifications, Speed Test, UFS 4.0 vs UFS 3.1". 6 July 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  27. ^ "JEDEC Announces Publication of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  28. ^ "JEDEC Updates Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  29. ^ "JEDEC Publishes Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Standard v2.0 | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  30. ^ "JEDEC Updates Universal Flash Storage (UFS) and Related Standards | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  31. ^ "UNIVERSAL FLASH STORAGE, UFS 2.2". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  32. ^ a b "JEDEC Publishes Universal Flash Storage (UFS & UFSHCI) Version 3.0 and UFS Card Extension Version 1.1". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  33. ^ "JEDEC Updates Universal Flash Storage (UFS) and Supporting Memory Interface Standard". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  34. ^ "JEDEC Publishes Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Removable Card Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  35. ^ "JEDEC Advances Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Removable Card Standard 3.0". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  36. ^ "Exynos 9609 Mobile Processor: Specs, Features | Samsung Exynos". Samsung Semiconductor. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  37. ^ "Exynos 9610 Processor: Specs, Features | Samsung Exynos". Samsung Semiconductor. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  38. ^ "Exynos 9611 Mobile Processor: Specs, Features | Samsung Exynos". Samsung Semiconductor. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  39. ^ "Exynos 980 5G Mobile Processor: Specs, Features | Samsung Exynos". Samsung Semiconductor. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  40. ^ "Exynos 9 Series 9820 Processor: Specs, Features | Samsung Exynos". Samsung Semiconductor. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  41. ^ Cutress, Ian (6 September 2019). "Huawei Announces Kirin 990 and Kirin 990 5G: Dual SoC Approach, Integrated 5G Modem". AnandTech. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019.
  42. ^ "Qualcomm Snapdragon 888: specs and benchmarks". NanoReview.net. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  43. ^ "Exynos 2100 5G Mobile Processor: Specs, Features". Samsung.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  44. ^ "Exynos 2200 | Processor | Samsung Semiconductor". www.samsung.com.
  45. ^ "Snapdragon-8-Gen-2-Product-Brief.pdf" (PDF). Qualcomm. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  46. ^ "JEDEC Publishes Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Removable Card Standard | JEDEC". www.jedec.org. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  47. ^ "Standards & Documents Search | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  48. ^ "Standards & Documents Search | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  49. ^ "Standards & Documents Search | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  50. ^ "UNIVERSAL FLASH STORAGE (UFS) CARD EXTENSION, Version 3.0 | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  51. ^ "UFS (Universal Flash Storage) | JEDEC". www.jedec.org.
  52. ^ "SSD Lifespan: How Long Will Your SSD Work?". Enterprise Storage Forum. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
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