Limited charge delivery for programming non-volatile storage elements

A method of operating non-volatile storage, the method comprising:

• running a circuit that has one or more clock inputs for a predetermined number of clock cycles, the circuit generates an amount of charge over the predetermined number of clock cycles;
• providing at most the amount of charge to a non-volatile storage element to program the non-volatile storage element;
• and
• determining whether the non-volatile storage element is programmed to a desired state as a result of providing at most the amount of charge to the non-volatile storage element.

A system comprising:

• a memory array including a plurality of groups of non-volatile storage elements;
• a plurality of charge pumps, each of the charge pumps is associated with one of the groups of non-volatile storage elements;
• and
• a managing circuit that runs the charge pumps for a predetermined number of clock cycles to generate an amount of energy from each of the charge pumps, the managing circuit provides no more than the amount of energy to a non-volatile storage element to be programmed from each group, the managing circuit determines whether each of the non-volatile storage elements to be programmed has been programmed to a desired state as a result of providing no more than the amount of energy.