Read soft bits through boosted modulation following reading hard bits

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory device having a group of memory cells;
• wherein in response to a read command, the memory device is configured to:
• read the group of memory cells at a first voltage and determine a first bit count based on the read of the group of memory cells at the first voltage;
• change the first voltage to a second voltage via boosted modulation from the first voltage;
• read the group of memory cells at the second voltage and determine a second bit count based on the read of the group of memory cells at the second voltage;
• change the second voltage to a third voltage via boosted modulation from the second voltage;
• read the group of memory cells at the third voltage and determine a third bit count based on the read of the group of memory cells at the third voltage;
• and
• calculate an optimized read voltage based at least in part on the first bit count, the second bit count, and the third bit count.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory device having a group of memory cells;
• wherein in response to a read command, the memory device is configured to:
• determine an estimated voltage for reading the group of memory cells;
• apply a first read voltage at or near the estimated voltage to the group of memory cells and determine a first bit count based on the read of the group of memory cells at the first read voltage;
• change the first read voltage to a second read voltage via boosted modulation from the first read voltage;
• apply the second read voltage to the group of memory cells and determine a second bit count based on the read of the group of memory cells at the second read voltage;
• calculate an optimized read voltage based at least in part on the first bit count and the second bit count;
• and
• apply the optimized read voltage to the group of memory cells to obtain hard bit data.