Microchip Demonstrates Flashtec 5016 Enterprise SSD Controller

Microchip recently announced its second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller – the Flashtec 5016.

• PCIe 5.0 lane organization: The 5016 operates in x4 or dual independent x2/x2 mode, while the 4016 operates in x8, x4, or dual independent x4/x2 mode.
• DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, and two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
• Expanded NAND support: The 4016 supports 2400 MT/s NAND, while the 5016 supports 3200 MT/s NAND.
• Performance improvement: Compared with 4016’s 3M+, 5016 can provide 3.5M+ random read IOPS.

Microchip’s enterprise-class SSD controllers provide SSD vendors with a high degree of flexibility by providing them with powerful features and accelerators. The 5016 contains the Cortex-A53 core for SSD vendors to run custom applications related to SSD management. However, there are two more cores in the CPU cluster compared to the Gen4 controller. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (out-of-band and inline, as required by the SSD vendor).

At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated the application of a neural network engine embedded in a Gen5 controller. For flash memory reads that do not complete successfully, the controller typically uses a “read retry” operation and changes the read voltage. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach using the NN engine in the controller to determine the readout voltage based on the health history of the NAND block. This approach brings tangible benefits in terms of read latency and power consumption (due to the lower number of errors on the first read).

The 4016 and 5016 feature a single-chip root-of-trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with two-signature authentication ensures that controller firmware cannot be maliciously altered in the field. The company also demonstrated the benefits of its controller’s implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement and partitioned namespaces, and a “credit engine” solution for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also reflected in other demonstrations.

Microchip’s press release cited quotes from common NAND suppliers – Solidigm, Kioxia and Micron. On the customer side, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers as well as YMTC NAND in its enterprise products. This collaboration will likely continue with the new 5016 controller.