Sandisk Il Ltd.

Sandisk Technologies Inc.

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Yigal Eli

Shahar Bar-Or

Ori Stern

Tal Heller

Dan Inbar

Eran Sharon

Idan Alrod

Rotem Sela

Amir Shaharabany

Karin Inbar

Hadas Oshinsky

Rajeev Nagabhirava

Damian Pablo Yurzola

Einav Zilberstein

Mahmud Asfur

Uri Peltz

Yong Peng

Krishnamurthy Dhakshinamurthy

Roi Kirshenbaum

Talal Ahwal

Arjun Hary

Tucker Dean Berckmann

A storage system and method are provided for flush optimization. In one embodiment, a storage system is provided comprising a cache, a non-volatile memory, and a controller. The controller is configured to: store, in the cache, data received from a host and to be written in the non-volatile memory; receive a command from the host to move the data stored in the cache into the non-volatile memory; without having executed the command, send a confirmation to the host that the command was executed; and execute the command after sending the continuation to the host.

Storage system and method for flush optimization

A device includes a non-volatile memory and a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory includes a plurality of blocks and each block of the plurality of blocks includes a plurality of word lines. The controller is configured to receive data read from a word line of a block of the non-volatile memory and to determine an error indicator value based on the data. The controller is further configured to, responsive to the error indicator value satisfying a threshold, indicate that at least a portion of the word line is to be skipped during writing of second data to the block of the non-volatile memory.

Systems and methods of detecting errors during read operations and skipping word line portions

Systems and methods for improving NAND flash memory yields by identifying memory blocks with benign word line defects. Memory blocks including word line defects may be classified as incomplete memory blocks and may be used for storing data fragments. A data fragment may correspond with data written into memory cells associated with one or more contiguous word lines within a memory block that does not include a bad word line. In some cases, firmware associated with a NAND flash memory device may identify one or more data fragments based on the location of bad word lines within a memory block. A word line defect may be considered a benign defect if the defect does not prevent memory cells connected to other word lines within a memory block from being programmed and/or read reliably.

NAND flash word line management using multiple fragment pools

Programmer's data that is transferred from a programming device to a storage device is initially stored in a memory device of the storage device by using a durable data-retention storage setup. After the storage device is embedded in a host device, the programmer's data is internally (i.e., in the storage device) read from the memory device and rewritten into the memory device by using a conventional storage setup. Using a durable data-retention storage setup may include temporarily (i.e., before the storage device is embedded in a host) operating selected memory cells of the memory device as conventional SBC cells or as unconventional MBC cells. After the storage device is embedded in a host device, the programmer's data, or selected parts thereof, is read from the memory device and rewritten into it by operating selected memory cells of the memory device as conventional MBC cells.

Preloading data into a flash storage device

Programmer's data that is transferred from a programming device () to a storage device () is initially stored in a memory device () of the storage device () by using a durable data-retention storage setup (). After the storage device is embedded in a host device (), the programmer's data is internally (i.e., in the storage device) read from the memory device and rewritten into the memory device by using a conventional storage setup (). Using a durable data-retention storage setup may include temporarily (i.e., before the storage device is embedded in a host) operating selected memory cells () of the memory device as conventional single-bit per cell (SBC) cells or as unconventional multi-bit per cell (MBC) cells. After the storage device () is embedded in a host device (), the programmer's data, or selected parts thereof, is read from the memory device () and rewritten into it by operating selected memory cells () of the memory device as conventional MBC cells.

Programmer's data is initially stored in a memory device of the storage device by using an MBC storage scheme. After the storage device is embedded in a host device, the programmer's data is internally read from the memory device by using conventional read reference voltages, and the number of erroneous data bits in the programmer's data is calculated. If the programmer's data includes an uncorrectable number of erroneous data bits, the programmer's data is iteratively reread by using unconventional read reference voltages with decreased levels. The iteration process, which includes decreasing the level of the read reference voltages and recalculating the number of erroneous data bits, is terminated when the number of erroneous data bits in the programmer's is less than or equals a predetermined number of erroneous data bits, after which the storage device restores the programmer's data and conventionally rewrites it into the memory device.

Growing community of inventors

Petach Tikva, Israel

Yigal Eli