Patent · US Active

Method for non-volatile memory with linear estimation of initial programming voltage

US7453731B2 · kind B2 · utility

23Cited by
32References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 12, 2006
Grant dateNov 18, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 8, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C2211/5621
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In a non-volatile memory, a selected page on a word line is successively programmed by a series of voltage pulses of a staircase waveform with verifications in between the pulses until the page is verified to a designated pattern. The programming voltage at the time the page is programmed verified will be to estimate the initial value of a starting programming voltage for the page. The estimation is further refined by using the estimate from a first pass in a second pass. Also, when the test is over multiple blocks, sampling of word lines based on similar geometrical locations of the blocks can yield a starting programming voltage optimized for faster programming pages.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.