Nonvolatile memory apparatus and refresh method thereof
AssigneeWinbond Electronics Corp.
InventorsIm-Cheol Ha, Shang-Wen Chang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A non-volatile memory apparatus and a refresh method thereof are provided. A control circuit determines whether threshold voltages of memory cells in a memory sectors are larger than a refresh read reference voltage and smaller than a refresh program verify reference voltage, and the control circuit determines that a memory cell needs refreshing if the threshold voltage of the memory cell is larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage.
Claims11
A non-volatile memory apparatus, comprising:
- a non-volatile memory;
- and
- a control circuit, coupled to the non-volatile memory and refreshing a non-selected block when an erasing operation is performed, wherein the non-selected block comprises a plurality of memory sectors, each of the memory sectors comprises a plurality of memory cells, and the control circuit determines whether threshold voltages of the memory cells in the memory sectors are larger than a refresh read reference voltage and smaller than a refresh program verify reference voltage, wherein the control circuit determines that a memory cell needs refreshing if the threshold voltage of the memory cell is larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage.
A method of refreshing a non-volatile memory apparatus suitable for refreshing a non-selected block when an erasing operation is performed, wherein the non-selected block comprises a plurality of memory sectors, and each of the memory sectors comprises a plurality of memory cells, the method comprising:
- determining whether threshold voltages of the memory cells in the memory sectors are larger than a refresh read reference voltage and smaller than a refresh program verify reference voltage;
- and
- determining that a memory cell needs refreshing if the threshold voltage of the memory cell is larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.