Adaptive control of memory cell programming voltage

A system comprising:

• a set of memory cells;
• a programming circuit coupled to the set of memory cells, the programming circuit configured to program the set of memory cells according to a plurality of programming pulses;
• and
• a programming correction circuit coupled to the programming circuit, the programming correction circuit including:
• a counting circuit configured to count a number of first memory cells from a selected subset of the set of memory cells, the first memory cells programmed with threshold voltages less than a verification voltage of the selected subset, and
• a voltage step control circuit configured to:
• determine a voltage step according to the counted number, and
• program the first memory cells according to a final programming pulse, wherein a magnitude of the final programming pulse is different from a magnitude of one of the plurality of programming pulses by the voltage step.

A method comprising:

• iteratively applying a programming pulse to a set of memory cells coupled to a word line during programming loops, the programming pulse having progressively increasing magnitudes according to a step size to program different subsets of the set of memory cells to corresponding target states;
• determining that a next programming loop to be performed is a final programming loop to program a subset of the set of memory cells targeted to have a last target state of the target states;
• counting a number of memory cells of the subset that have not reached the last target state;
• decreasing the step size of the programming pulse for the final programming loop in accordance with the number of memory cells of the subset that have not reached the last target state;
• increasing a magnitude of the programming pulse by the decreased step size for the final programming loop;
• and
• applying the programming pulse with the increased magnitude according to the decreased step size to the set of memory cells during the final programming loop.