open NAND flash interface (ONFI)

The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) simplifies the integration of NAND flash ICs into consumer electronics products, computing platforms and other applications that use solid-state memory.

ONFI defines the electrical characteristics and mechanical connector scheme for a NAND flash interface with data rates of 200 MB/s, about a tenfold increase from the data transfer rates between flash dice at the time. The definition issued by ONFI includes component levels and plug-in module form factors.

With the ONFI interface, it is possible to approximately quadruple the data transfer rate between NAND arrays and the memory buffer, from 40 MB/s to 150 MB/s.

In the meantime, more than 80 memory manufacturing companies have joined ONFI, including Intel and Micron as leaders, but also ATI, Nvidia and many others.