Halogen Free & RoHS Recast Complaint
CompactFlash Series 6
Specifications for Industrial CompactFlash Card
January 30
th
, 2013
Version 1.0
Apacer Technology Inc.
th
4 Fl., 75 Hsin Tai Wu Rd., Sec.1, Xizhi, New Taipei City 221, Taiwan
Tel: +886-2-2698-2888
Fax: +886-2-2698-2889
www.apacer.com
Compact Flash 6 series
AP-CFxxxxLAXS-XXXXXX
Features:
CompactFlash Association Specification
Revision 6.0 Standard Interface
– ATA command set compatible
– ATA transfer mode supports:
PIO Mode 6
Multiword DMA Mode 4
Ultra DMA Mode 6
PCMCIA UDMA Mode 5
Capacities
–
8, 16, 32, 64, 128 GB
Performance*
–
Sustained read: Up to 110 MB/sec
–
Sustained write: Up to 60 MB/sec
Intelligent ATA/IDE module
–
Wear-leveling algorithms to substantially
increase longevity of flash media
– Built-in BCH ECC capable of correcting
up to 72 bits in 1KB data
– Supports S.M.A.R.T commands
NAND Flash Type: MLC
Power Management
Power Smart Design
– Built-in 1.2V Power-On-Reset
– Built-in 2.7V Voltage detector for power
fail protection
Temperature ranges
– 0° to 70° for operation (Standard)
C
C
– -40° to 85° (extended temperature)
C
C
– -40° to 100° for storage
C
C
Operating voltage for read and write
– 3.3 V
– 5.0 V
Power consumption (typical)*
– Active mode: 265 mA/5.0V
– Standby mode: 1 mA/5.0V
Connector Type
– 50 pins female
Physical Dimensions
– 36.4mm x 42.8mm x 3.3mm
RoHS Recast Compliant
–
Complies with 2011/65/EU
Halogen Free
*Performance and power consumption may vary depending on capacities, flash configuration or host system settings.
1
© 2013 Apacer Technology Inc.
Rev. 1.0
Compact Flash 6 series
AP-CFxxxxLAXS-XXXXXX
Table of Contents
1.GENERAL DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................... 3
1.1 P
ERFORMANCE
-O
PTIMIZED
C
ONTROLLER
............................................................................................................3
1.1.1 Power Management ......................................................................................................................................3
1.1.2 RAM..............................................................................................................................................................3
1.1.3 Error Correction Code (ECC) ......................................................................................................................3
1.2 I
NTELLIGENT
E
NDURANCE
D
ESIGN
.......................................................................................................................3
1.2.1 Wear-leveling algorithms .............................................................................................................................3
1.2.2 S.M.A.R.T. Technology .................................................................................................................................4
1.2.3 Flash Block Management .............................................................................................................................4
1.2.4 Power Failure Management .........................................................................................................................4
2. FUNCTIONAL BLOCK .......................................................................................................... 5
3. PIN ASSIGNMENTS ............................................................................................................... 6
4. PRODUCT SPECIFICATION ................................................................................................ 8
4.1 C
APACITY
.............................................................................................................................................................8
4.2 P
ERFORMANCE
.....................................................................................................................................................8
4.3 E
NVIRONMENTAL
S
PECIFICATIONS
.......................................................................................................................8
4.4 C
ERTIFICATION
& C
OMPLIANCE
...........................................................................................................................9
5. SOFTWARE INTERFACE .................................................................................................. 10
5.1 CF-ATA C
OMMAND
S
ET
....................................................................................................................................10
6. OPERATING CONDITIONS............................................................................................... 12
7. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ..................................................................................... 13
7.1 D
IMENSION
.........................................................................................................................................................13
8. PRODUCT ORDERING INFORMATION ........................................................................ 14
8.1 P
RODUCT
C
ODE
D
ESIGNATIONS
.........................................................................................................................14
2
© 2013 Apacer Technology Inc.
Rev. 1.0
Compact Flash 6 series
AP-CFxxxxLAXS-XXXXXX
1. General Description
Apacer’s value-added Industrial CompactFlash Card offers high performance, high reliability and power-
efficient storage. Regarding standard compliance, this CompactFlash Card complies with CompactFlash
specification revision 6.0, supporting transfer modes up to Programmed Input Output (PIO) Mode 6, Multi-
word Direct Memory Access (DMA) Mode 4, Ultra DMA Mode 6, and PCMCIA Ultra DMA Mode 5.
For power efficiency, this industrial CompactFlash card supports some power smart design mechanisms
such as Power-On-Reset, voltage regulator for output voltage adjustments and power failure protection,
as well as the automatic sleep and wake-up feature.
Apacer’s value-added CFC provides complete PCMCIA – ATA functionality and compatibility. Apacer ‘s
CompactFlash technology is designed for applications in Point of Sale (POS) terminals, telecom, IP-STB,
medical instruments, surveillance systems, industrial PCs and handheld applications such as the new
generation of Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras.
1.1 Performance-Optimized Controller
The CompactFlash Card Controller translates standard CF signals into flash media data and control
signals.
1.1.1 Power Management
The controller unit of this ComactFlash is built with power management design that optimizes power
utilization and voltage flow. It enhances the power efficiency of CompactFlash Card Controller by
employing advanced circuit regulator technology.
1.1.2 RAM
The controller is implemented with RAM as a data process to optimize data transfer between the host and
the flash media.
1.1.3 Error Correction Code (ECC)
The CompactFlash card is programmed with BCH Error Detection Code (EDC) and Error Correction Code
(ECC) algorithms capable of correcting up to 72 random bits in 1KB bytes data.
High performance is achieved through hardware-based error detection and correction.
1.2 Intelligent Endurance Design
1.2.1 Wear-leveling algorithms
Flash memory devices differ from Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) in terms of how blocks are utilized. For HDDs,
when a change is made to stored data, like erase or update, the controller mechanism on HDDs will
perform overwrites on blocks. Unlike HDDs, flash blocks cannot be overwritten and each P/E cycle wears
down the lifespan of blocks gradually. Repeatedly program/erase cycles performed on the same memory
cells will eventually cause some blocks to age faster than others. This would bring flash storages to their
end of service term sooner. Wear leveling is an important mechanism that level out the wearing of blocks
so that the wearing-down of blocks can be almost evenly distributed. This will increase the lifespan of
SSDs. Commonly used wear leveling types are Static and Dynamic.
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© 2013 Apacer Technology Inc.
Rev. 1.0
Compact Flash 6 series
AP-CFxxxxLAXS-XXXXXX
1.2.2 S.M.A.R.T. Technology
S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, an open standard
allowing disk drives to automatically monitor their own health and report potential problems. It protects the
user from unscheduled downtime by monitoring and storing critical drive performance and calibration
parameters. Ideally, this should allow taking proactive actions to prevent impending drive failure. Apacer
SMART feature adopts the standard SMART command B0h to read data from the drive. When the Apacer
SMART Utility running on the host, it analyzes and reports the disk status to the host before the device is
in critical condition.
1.2.3 Flash Block Management
Current production technology is unable to guarantee total reliability of NAND flash memory array. When
a flash memory device leaves factory, it comes with a minimal number of initial bad blocks during
production or out-of-factory as there is no currently known technology that produce flash chips free of bad
blocks. In addition, bad blocks may develop during program/erase cycles. When host performs
program/erase command on a block, bad block may appear in Status Register. Since bad blocks are
inevitable, the solution is to keep them in control. Apacer flash devices are programmed with ECC, block
mapping technique and S.M.A.R.T to reduce invalidity or error. Once bad blocks are detected, data in
those blocks will be transferred to free blocks and error will be corrected by designated algorithms.
1.2.4 Power Failure Management
Power Failure Management plays a crucial role when experiencing unstable power supply. Power
disruption may occur when users are storing data into the SSD. In this urgent situation, the controller
would run multiple write-to-flash cycles to store the metadata for later block rebuilding. This urgent
operation requires about several milliseconds to get it done. At the next power up, the firmware will
perform a status tracking to retrieve the mapping table and resume previously programmed NAND blocks
to check if there is any incompleteness of transmission.
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© 2013 Apacer Technology Inc.
Rev. 1.0