Serial ATA: An Interface Review and Market Outlook

Serial ATA has become increasingly necessary due to the major limitations of Parallel ATA. Most significant of which are the difficulty in increasing the data rate beyond 100MB/s and the use of signaling levels that are not compatible with upcoming silicon microelectronic processes. This paper delivers an overview of the benefits of Serial v. Parallel ATA and how Serial ATA was designed to overcome these Parallel ATA limitations by increasing data rates and interface efficiencies. It also provides a market outlook for Serial ATA to displace other interfaces beyond hard disk drives.