# US 12,217,786 B2 · Memory device, memory system having the same and operating method thereof

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- Number: US 12,217,786 B2
- Document ID: US12217786B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/613,361
- Filed: 2024-03-22
- Published: 2024-07-11
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2021-11-17
- Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Hijung Kim; Hoyoun Kim; Jungmin You; Seongjin Cho
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12217786B2

## CPC

- G11C 11/40622: {Partial refresh of memory arrays}
- G06F 7/5443: {Sum of products (for applications thereof, see the relevant places, e.g. G06F17/10, H03H17/00)}
- G11C 11/406: Management or control of the refreshing or charge-regeneration cycles
- G11C 11/40603: {Arbitration, priority and concurrent access to memory cells for read/write or refresh operations}
- G11C 11/40611: {External triggering or timing of internal or partially internal refresh operations, e.g. auto-refresh or CAS-before-RAS triggered refresh}
- G11C 11/40615: {Internal triggering or timing of refresh, e.g. hidden refresh, self refresh, pseudo-SRAMs}
- G11C 11/40618: {Refresh operations over multiple banks or interleaving}
- G11C 11/408: Address circuits
- G11C 11/4085: {Word line control circuits, e.g. word line drivers, - boosters, - pull-up, - pull-down, - precharge}
- G11C 11/4087: {Address decoders, e.g. bit - or word line decoders; Multiple line decoders}
- G11C 11/4094: Bit-line management or control circuits
- G11C: STATIC STORES (semiconductor memory devices H10B)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells connected to a plurality of wordlines and a plurality of bitlines, a target row refresh logic circuit configured to select a target row address from among a plurality of target row addresses as a refresh row address based on victim point values, and perform a refresh operation on first memory cells of the plurality of memory cells connected to a wordline of the plurality of wordlines indicated by the refresh row address, a victim point table configured to store the victim point values for the target row addresses, and a victim point accumulator configured to receive a first row address from an external device, and accumulate a first victim point value for at least one target row address corresponding to the first row address during a unit time period.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An operating method of a memory device, the method comprising:
receiving a target row address;
generating victim point values for the target row address and at least one row address adjacent to the target row address;
updating a victim point table with the victim point values; and
performing a target refresh operation based on the victim point table at a predetermined time,
wherein the generating the victim point values comprises:
accumulating access count values corresponding to the target row address in each time period among a plurality of time periods; and
calculating the victim point values corresponding to the target row address based on the accumulated access count values.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the victim point values comprises accumulating the access count values based on a row address corresponding to previous victim point values using a processing-in-memory (PIM).

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
monitoring a row hammer attack; and
adjusting an interval of a time period among the plurality of time periods based the row hammer attack.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a refresh management command from a memory controller,
wherein the predetermined time comprises a time at which the refresh management command is received.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
loading the victim point table into a dedicated memory cell region.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined time comprises a periodic refresh time.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of time periods are determined based on an eviction count value of a register.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the victim point values further comprises
storing the access count values in a register.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the generating the victim point values further comprises:
generating a new victim point value based an access count value and a victim point value at the each time period among the plurality of time periods.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the victim point values further comprises:
counting a total count value of active command corresponding to the target row address; and
storing the total count value in a register.

### Claim 11

An operating method of a memory device, the method comprising:
receiving a command from an external device; and
performing a refresh operation using a victim point table in response to the command,
wherein the victim point table includes victim point values corresponding to target row addresses,
wherein the victim point values are generated by accumulating at least one access count value corresponding to a target row address in each time period of a plurality of time periods; and calculating the victim point values corresponding to the target row address based on the accumulated access count value.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
updating the victim point table with the calculated victim point values at the each time period.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the command is generated using a total activation count, temperature information, or an internal clock in the external device.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
resetting a victim point value corresponding to a target row address that performed the refresh operation the target row addresses.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the victim point values are accumulated based on a multiplier-and-accumulator (MAC).

### Claim 16

An operating method of a memory device including a plurality of memory cells connected to a plurality of wordlines and a plurality of bitlines, the method comprising:
selecting a target row address from among a plurality of target row addresses as a refresh row address based on victim point values;
performing a refresh operation on first memory cells of the plurality of memory cells connected to a wordline of the plurality of wordlines indicated by the refresh row address;
storing, in a victim point table, the victim point values for the plurality of target row addresses;
receiving a first row address from an external device; and
calculating a first victim point value for at least one target row address corresponding to the first row address.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the selecting the target row address comprises determining, at a predetermined time, the refresh row address based on an access count table and the victim point table for the plurality of target row addresses.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined time comprises a periodic refresh time.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined time comprises a time at which a refresh management command from the external device is received.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the first victim point value is calculated in a processing-in-memory (PIM) module.