Silicon Motion Announces World’s Fastest Single-Chip Controller for External Portable SSDs

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Image: Silicon Motion

Users have often experienced disappointing speeds after connecting an external USB drive. Cue checking the packaging for disclaimers about advertised speeds not being available. Silicon Motion has announced a new controller that helps with that, the world’s fastest single-chip controller for portable SSDs. It removes the USB bridge chip, which can be a source of decreased speeds.

The SM2320 connects via a USB 3.2 Gen2 x 2 interface, allowing up to 2,100/2,000 MB/s sequential read/write speeds. It also uses less power, with support for 1.2V/1.8V NAND. Removal of the USB bridge chip decreases the bill of materials and potentially development and manufacturing costs. It supports up to 4 TB of capacity and ECC technology.

The SM2320 single-chip solution equips a USB 3.2 Gen2 x 2 interface with 20Gb/s bandwidth, with the fully integrated hardware and software solution which features four NAND channels with 32 CEs, providing for high-speed data transfers between an external SSD and a host laptop computer or notebook. Because it can interface directly to the host without the need for an external bridge chip, it enables manufacturers of external SSDs to reduce system size and lower their Bill-Of-Materials (BOM) cost and power consumption.

The SM2320 delivers peak sequential read and write transfer speeds of 2,100MB/s and 2,000MB/s, with density up to 4TB, while enabling new SSD designs to take full advantage of high-density NAND Flash, including the latest 3D TLC/QLC NAND.

Leveraging Silicon Motion’s proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2320 enhances the endurance and data retention of 3D NAND, and provides comprehensive protection of data integrity through SRAM ECC and End-to-End data path protection.

In addition, the SM2320 delivers the highest level of data security by providing AES 256-bit encryption, full compliance with the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal specification and auxiliary Fingerprint Security support.

The highly integrated SM2320 controller solution can significantly accelerate customer’s development schedule and reduce overall cost at a system level.

Source: Silicon Motion (via TechPowerUp)

Peter Brosdahl
As a child of the 70’s I was part of the many who became enthralled by the video arcade invasion of the 1980’s. Saving money from various odd jobs I purchased my first computer from a friend of my dad, a used Atari 400, around 1982. Eventually it would end up being a lifelong passion of upgrading and modifying equipment that, of course, led into a career in IT support.

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