Macronix International Co., Ltd.

Chen-Jun Wu

Hang-Ting Lue

Tzu-Hsuan Hsu

Chih-Chang Hsieh

A two-sided, staged programming operation is applied to a memory having first and second stacks of memory cells C() and C(), i being the physical level of a cell. The staged programming operation includes applying a preliminary program stage S, an intermediate program stage S, and a final program stage Sto memory cells in the first and second stacks. In a programming order the final program stage Sis applied to memory cells in the first and second stacks at each level (i) for which the intermediate program stage Shas already been applied to the memory cells in any neighboring levels (levels i+1 and i&#x2212;1). The intermediate program stage Sis applied only to memory cells for which the preliminary program stage Shas already been applied to the cells in any neighboring levels (levels i+1 and i&#x2212;1).

3D memory with staged-level multibit programming

A data erase method of a three dimensional (3D) memory device comprising the following steps. First, in a first phase of an erase operation, a first voltage is applied to a first semiconductor channel of the semiconductor channels to erase data stored in the memory cells defined on the first semiconductor channel and a second voltage is applied to a second semiconductor channel of the semiconductor channels, wherein the second semiconductor channel is adjacent to the first semiconductor channel. Then, in a second phase of the erase operation, the second voltage is applied to the first semiconductor channel and the first voltage is applied to the second semiconductor channel.

Growing community of inventors

Changhua, Taiwan

Chen-Jun Wu