PM8270B-F3EI – Complete Datasheet & Application Summary

1. General Description

PM8270B-F3EI is a SmartIOC 2200 PCIe Gen 4 tri-mode storage controller from Microchip Technology. It provides 16-lane PCIe host connectivity and 16-lane NVMe/SAS/SATA storage support in a 31mm × 31mm BGA package. The device integrates a PCIe switch, SAS-4 24G PHYs, hardware RAID, and secure-boot root-of-trust, enabling high-performance, low-latency, and secure storage for enterprise servers, cloud storage, and hyper-scale data centers.

2. Key Features

Host Interface

• PCIe Gen 4 x16 (16 GT/s per lane)
• Backward compatible with Gen 3/2/1
• Bifurcation: x1, x2, x4, x8, x16
• Error containment: poisoned TLP blocking, completion timeout, downstream port containment

Storage Interface

• 32 tri-mode lanes (configurable as 16 × 2 ports)
• SAS-4 24G, SATA 6G, PCIe NVMe per port
• Dynamic Channel Multiplexing (DCM) – aggregates slower drives over 24G links
• Universal Backplane Management (UBM) – auto-negotiates link type & speed

Performance

• >3M 4K random read IOPS
• Up to 26GB/s throughput
• Hardware RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 (cacheless)
• Native HBA mode and fully transparent NVMe mode

Security

• Hardware root-of-trust – secure boot & firmware update
• AES-XTS 256-bit encryption (IEEE 1619) for SAS & NVMe data-at-rest
• FIPS 140-2 Levels 1–3 certifiable
• Secure Key Encryption Key (KEK) management

3. Part Number Decoding

4. Ordering Information (Extract)

5. Functional Specifications

5.1 PCIe Host

• Lanes: 16 × Gen 4 (16 GT/s)
• Switch: Integrated Switchtec™ PCIe switch
• Latency: <100ns to NVMe targets
• NTB: Non-transparent bridging & address translation
• Hot-Plug: Surprise & surprise-removal supported

5.2 Storage Ports

• PHYs: 16 × 24G SAS-4, backward compatible 12G/6G
• Protocols: SAS, SATA, NVMe (tri-mode per port)
• Topologies:16 × single-link drives8 × 2-lane wide-port drivesMixed NVMe & SAS/SATA on same backplane
• DCM: Near 100% bandwidth aggregation efficiency

5.3 RAID & Data Protection

• Levels: 0, 1, 10, 5 (no cache required)
• Stripe Size: 64KB default, configurable
• Online Capacity Expansion (OCE)
• RAID Migration & Volume Concatenation
• Patrol Read & Consistency Check
• Basic HW RAID – no external DRAM needed

6. Management & Software

Unified Smart Storage Stack

• Drivers: Windows, Linux, VMware, FreeBSD, UEFI
• Utilities:maxView™ GUI – web-based managementARCCONF CLI – scripting & automationvSphere & OpenStack plugins
• Pre-Boot: UEFI HII GUI & CLI
• Autonomous Event Monitor – SNMP, email, syslog
• SMBus / I²C – side-band management (optional)

7. Security & Compliance

8. Power & Thermal

9. Reference Designs & Topologies

A. Enterprise Boot + Performance

• Host: x16 PCIe Gen 4
• Topology: 2× RAID 1 (boot) + 12× NVMe (performance)
• Benefit: Hardware RAID boot, transparent NVMe for data

B. Dense Cloud Storage

• Host: x16 PCIe Gen 4
• Topology: 32× SATA 6G HDD via DCM SAS-4 links
• Benefit: 100% bandwidth aggregation, reduced cable count

C. Mixed Media Hyper-scale

• Host: x16 PCIe Gen 4
• Topology: 8× NVMe SSD + 16× SAS-4 SSD + 8× SATA HDD
• Benefit: Single controller, single driver, unified management

10. Mechanical & Package

11. Environmental & Reliability

• Operating Temp: 0°C to +70°C (commercial) / -40°C to +85°C (industrial on request)
• Storage Temp: -55°C to +125°C
• HTOL: 1000h @ 105°C
• ESD: 2kV HBM, 500V CDM
• Latch-up: >100mA

12. Support & Collateral

• Evaluation Board: PM8270-EVB31 (available Q3-2024)
• Firmware: Field-upgradable via UEFI, OS, or SMBus
• Documentation:Datasheet (DS00003797A)Hardware Reference DesignThermal Design GuidemaxView User Manual
• Software:Drivers & utilities download portalVMware & OpenStack pluginsUEFI HII images

13. Ordering Summary