# US 2018/0322931 A1 · Nonvolatile memory apparatus and refresh method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0322931 A1 - Document ID: US20180322931A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/959,304 - Filed: 2018-04-23 - Published: 2018-11-08 - Earliest claimed: 2017-05-04 - Assignees: Winbond Electronics Corp. - Applicants: Winbond Electronics Corp. - Inventors: Im-Cheol Ha; Shang-Wen Chang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180322931A1 ## CPC - G11C 16/3418: {Disturbance prevention or evaluation; Refreshing of disturbed memory data} - G11C 7/08: Control thereof - G11C 7/1063: {Control signal output circuits, e.g. status or busy flags, feedback command signals} - G11C 16/0483: {comprising cells having several storage transistors connected in series} - G11C 16/28: using differential sensing or reference cells, e.g. dummy cells - G11C 16/3459: {Circuits or methods to verify correct programming of nonvolatile memory cells} - G11C: STATIC STORES (semiconductor memory devices H10B) ## 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. ## Claims ### Claim 1 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. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit further determines whether a first memory sector to which a current address corresponds comprises the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage, and if the first memory sector to which the current address corresponds does not comprise the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage, a refresh operation of the remaining memory sectors in the non-selected block is skipped to complete the refresh operation of the non-selected block. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 2, wherein if the first memory sector to which the current address corresponds comprises the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage, the control circuit refreshes the memory cell that needs refreshing in the first memory sector and in the remaining memory sectors to which the current address corresponds. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit determines whether the memory cells need refreshing in a batch manner. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit comprises a plurality of sense circuits, each of the sense circuits comprising: a first sense amplifier having a positive end and a negative end receiving a sensed voltage corresponding to stored data of a target sensed memory cell and a first reference voltage respectively; a second sense amplifier having a positive end and a negative end receiving the corresponding sensed voltage and a second reference voltage; and a refresh enable circuit, coupled to the first sense amplifier and the second sense amplifier and outputting a refresh enable signal which enables the control circuit to refresh the target sensed memory cell according to a comparison result of the first sense amplifier and the second sense amplifier. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 5, wherein the control circuit further comprises: a flag signal generation circuit, coupled to the sensed circuits and generating a flag signal according to the refresh enable signal output by the sense circuits, wherein the control circuit determines whether any of the memory cells to which the sense circuits correspond needs refreshing according to the flag signal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The non-volatile memory apparatus of claim 6, wherein the flag signal generation circuit comprises: a NAND gate circuit having an input end receiving the refresh enable signal output by the sense circuits; an inverting gate having an input end coupled to an output end of the NAND gate circuit; and a latch circuit, coupled to an output end of the inverting gate to latch an output signal of the inverting gate and generate the flag signal. ### Claim 8 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. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, comprising: determining whether a first memory sector to which a current address corresponds comprises the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage; and skipping a refresh operation of the remaining memory sectors in the non-selected block to complete the refresh operation of the non-selected block if the first memory sector to which the current address corresponds does not comprise the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein if the first memory sector to which the current address corresponds comprises the memory cell having the threshold voltage larger than the refresh read reference voltage and smaller than the refresh program verify reference voltage, the memory cell that needs refreshing in the first memory sector and in the remaining memory sectors to which the current address corresponds is refreshed. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, comprising: determining whether the memory cells need refreshing in a batch manner.