NAND Flash compatibility for iMX25

[FernandoMarta_n]

Hi all,

I'm developing a custom board based on i.MX25 PDK. I'm planning to use the  nand flash Micron MT29F8G08ABABA as internal boot. This nand flash has 4K bytes page size and 224 bytes spare size. But in boot settings, I can only choose 128 or 218 bytes for spare size when page size is 4K bytes. Does that mean I can't use this nand flash? Can anyone corfim that Micron MT29F8G08ABABA (or someone similar with 224 bytes spare size) is compatible with i.MX25?

Thanks.

[JorgeRama_rezRi · Accepted solution]

Hi Fernando,

Yes, that memory should be compatible. I have actually tested the 16 bit version in the MX35, which has the same NAND flash controller, so it shouldn't have any issues. About the spare size, as long as you select the closest lower number, the NAND will work fine. So in this case, you should select 218 bytes.

Best regards.

Jorge.

[dsnknd]

Hi,

According to IMX25 Ref manual, item 36.1.1, the features of NFC are:

1. Supports all NAND Flash products of up to 64-Kbyte blocks (for instance, NFC supports single-level cell (SLC) NAND Flash devices with 512 bytes per page, 16 Kbytes per block, and memory size up to 8 Gbits)

2. Supports SLC NAND Flash devices with 2 Kbytes per page, 128 Kbytes per block, and memory size up to 64 Gbits

3. Supports multi-level cell (MLC) NAND Flash devices with 4 Kbytes per page, 512 Kbytes per block, and memory size up to 256 Gbits

But Micron MT29F8G08ABABA is a SLC with the following geometry:

Page size: 4320 bytes (4096+224)

Block size: 128 pages (512k + 28k)

Dev size: 1Gbyte = 2048 blocks

As far as I understand, none of the upper conditions is satisfied. How can it work? I'm currently using MT29F4G08ABADA with a page size of 2k and a block size of 128k, satisfying condition 2, but I need to find a larger memory for a project revision.

Best Regards,

Edson

[dsnknd]

By looking to other threads, I understand that I cannot boot from NAND out of the 3 conditions above but linux and its filesystem can deal normally with devices like MT29F8G08ABABA. Is it correct?

Best Regards,

Edson

[FernandoMarta_n]

OK, then I won't have problems. Thank you for your answer, Jorge.