ONFI Spec Analysis Part 3: ONFI 5.1 and the Future of NV-LPDDR4

The final part of our series explores the cutting edge: ONFI 5.1. This version is designed for enterprise SSDs requiring massive throughput and mobile devices needing extreme power efficiency.

1. NV-LPDDR4 Interface

The biggest leap in ONFI 5.x is the introduction of the NV-LPDDR4 interface.

• It enables speeds up to 2400MT/s and beyond.
• Uses low-voltage signaling to maintain performance while reducing heat.

2. Command Set Extensions

To support high-capacity QLC NAND, ONFI 5.1 introduces refined command sets for:

• Multi-plane operations: Parallelizing reads and writes across NAND planes.
• Asynchronous independent blocks: Reducing latency in mixed workloads.

End of Series. We hope this deep dive into ONFI has been valuable for your hardware engineering journey.