M.2 Key M support?

Autonomous Machines Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson TX1
#1

Hi all

I am currently building a device with Jetson TX1, but the problem is that I don’t know how to design the circuit for SAMSUNG 960 EVO, which is an M.2 Key M slot SSD.

I am a grade 3 university student, as a result there are some complex hardware stuff I don’t know. While many of them can be solved regarding to the carrier board design files and other documentations, the M.2 Key M remains a problem. So I wonder if there is any documentation regarding to this?

I know there are some 3d-party carrier boards that support M.2 Key M SSD, but since the designs are not open, I still don’t know how to do this…

#2

The slot for M.2 on the development carrier board is key “e”, so a key “m” won’t work with this. M.2 has certain trace designations where using a wrong device which still fits won’t cause electrical damage, but function will fail. There are PCIe carrier cards which might work as an adapter to key “m”, though I have no experience with any (I don’t have an SSD :).

#3

Hi, linuxdev, thanks for your reply.

Yeah, the slot on the development carrier board is a Key E slot, that is mainly why I don’t know how to design a Key M slot. I am now developing a new small size carrier board with some specified functionalities, so some other carrier boards may not work, even if they have direct Key M slot support.

I am now checking documentations of M.2, hope that works.

#4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2 is actually a good place to start…it references other material.

#5

Have you found any more information on this?

I am also attempting to add a PCIe x4 M.2 socket to my board. I happened to have a Samsung 960 EVO in my PC on an adapter, so I started by following the traces from the PCIe standard slot to where they go on the M.2: the PEX lanes take up basically the whole odd side of the M.2 slot.

Now I am attempting to figure out the even side, such as where the PEX Clock Request and SMBus connections go, as well as whatever else is on the even side.

#6

Let me know if you need a PCB designer to help you with the layout.