Non-volatile memory or storing erase operation information

Abstract

This invention is nonvolatile memory that has an ordinary memory cell region wherein ordinary data is stored and an erase information storage memory region wherein the information that shows the status of the erase operation is stored. The erase information storage memory region comprises nonvolatile memory that can store the information even when the power is cut. Preferably, the erase information storage memory region can store erase information in the memory block units in which the erase operation is executed. Further preferably, the erase information storage memory region is able to store erase information for at least the three statuses that are involved in erase operations: erase operation start status, preprogramming end status, and erase operation complete status.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.