Using flash memories as SIMO channels for extending the lifetime of solid-state drives

Reliability and I/O performance are the two basic metrics that determine the quality of solid-state drives (SSDs), especially in enterprize storage systems. Flash memories, the most popular non-volatile memory used in today´s solid-state drives, demonstrate a time-varying behavior in terms of raw bit errors per program/erase cycle. This paper presents experimental results regarding the time-varying behavior as well as the statistical characteristics of single and multiple level cell flash memories. A new method that exploits these characteristics and uses the flash memories as Single Input Multiple Output channels for extending the lifetime of storage devices based on single level cell technology is presented. The method´s efficiency is highlighted and its effect on the system´s I/O performance is discussed.