Intel Corporation

Micron Technology Incorporated

Shyam Sunder Raghunathan

Pranav Kalavade

Krishna Kumar Parat

Charan Srinivasan

Shantanu R Rajwade

Neal R Mielke

Feng Zhu

Xin Guo

Ravi H Motwani

Iwen Chao

The inhibit voltage is a voltage applied to wordlines adjacent to a program wordline having a memory cell to write during the program operation. The inhibit voltage for a program operation can be ramped up during the program pulse. Instead of applying a constant high inhibit voltage that results in the initial boosted channel potential reducing drastically due to leakage, a system can start the inhibit voltage lower and ramp the inhibit voltage up during the program pulse. The ramping up can be a continuous ramp or in finite discrete steps during the program pulse. Such ramping of inhibit voltage can provide better tradeoff between program disturb and inhibit disturb.

Ramping inhibit voltage during memory programming

Methods of operating a memory include applying a first voltage level to control gates of a plurality of memory cells selected to be programmed while applying a second voltage level to a respective data line for each memory cell of the plurality of memory cells; increasing the voltage level applied to the respective data line for memory cells of a first subset of memory cells to a third voltage level then increasing the voltage level applied to the control gates of the plurality of memory cells to a fourth voltage level; increasing the voltage level applied to the respective data line for each memory cell of a second subset of memory cells of the plurality of memory cells to a fifth voltage level then; and after increasing the voltage level applied to the respective data line for each memory cell of the second subset of memory cells to the fifth voltage level, increasing the voltage level applied to the control gates of the plurality of memory cells to a sixth voltage level.

Programming memories with multi-level pass signal

Methods of operating a memory include applying a multi-step pass voltage to a plurality of memory cells selected for a programming operation, applying a programming pulse to the plurality of memory cells selected for the programming operation after applying a voltage level of a particular step of the multi-step pass voltage to the plurality of memory cells selected for the programming operation, applying a particular voltage level to any data lines coupled to a first subset of memory cells of the plurality of memory cells selected for the programming operation prior to applying a voltage level of a certain step of the multi-step pass voltage, and applying the particular voltage level to any data lines coupled to a second subset of memory cells of the plurality of memory cells selected for the programming operation only after applying the voltage level of the certain step of the multi-step pass voltage.

Systems and methods of managing defects in nonvolatile storage systems that can be used to avoid an inadvertent loss of data, while maintaining as much useful memory in the nonvolatile storage systems as possible. The disclosed systems and methods can monitor a plurality of trigger events for detecting possible defects in one or more nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices included in the nonvolatile storage systems, and apply one or more defect management policies to the respective NVM devices based on the types of trigger events that resulted in detection of the possible defects. Such defect management policies can be used proactively to retire memory in the nonvolatile storage systems with increased granularity, focusing the retirement of memory on regions of nonvolatile memory that are likely to contain a defect.

Defect management policies for NAND flash memory

Apparatus, systems, and methods to implement dynamic memory management in nonvolatile memory devices are described. In one example, a controller comprises logic to monitor at least one performance parameter of a nonvolatile memory, determine when the at least one performance parameter passes a threshold which indicates a degradation in performance for the nonvolatile memory, and in response to the at least one performance parameter passing the threshold, to modify at least one operational attribute of the nonvolatile memory. Other examples are also disclosed and claimed.

Dynamically compensating for degradation of a non-volatile memory device

Memories and methods for programming memories with multi-level pass signals are provided. One method includes programming cells of the memory selected to be programmed to a particular target data state of the memory, using program disturb to program cells of the memory selected to be programmed to target data states that are lower than the particular target data state while programming cells of the memory selected to be programmed to the particular target data state, and boosting a channel voltage for cells of the memory selected to be programmed to the target data states that are lower than the particular target data state. Boosting may include using a multi-step pass signal.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include techniques and configurations for multi-pulse programming of a memory device. In one embodiment, a method includes applying multiple pulses to program one or more multi-level cells (MLCs) of a memory device, wherein individual pulses of the multiple pulses correspond with individual levels of the one or more MLCs and subsequent to applying the multiple pulses, verifying the programming of the individual levels of the one or more MLCs. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Multi-pulse programming for memory

Embodiments of methods and systems disclosed herein provide a NAND cell programming technique that results in a substantially reduced Tto complete a programming operation. In particular, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein utilize two Vprogramming pulses during each programming iteration, or loop. One of the two programming pulses corresponds to a conventional programming Vpulse and the second pulse comprises a programming pulse that having a greater Vthat is greater than the conventional programming Vso that the slow cells are programmed to PV in fewer pulses (iterations), thereby effectively simultaneously programming and verifying cells having different programming speeds.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Shyam Sunder Raghunathan