# US 5,710,734 A · Semiconductor memory device and data writing method thereof

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- Number: US 5,710,734 A
- Document ID: US5710734A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 08/589,536
- Filed: 1996-01-22
- Granted: 1998-01-20
- Earliest claimed: 1995-01-24
- Assignees: LG Electronics Inc.
- Inventors: Jun Bae Park
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5710734A

## CPC

- G11C 16/3495: {Circuits or methods to detect or delay wearout of nonvolatile EPROM or EEPROM memory devices, e.g. by counting numbers of erase or reprogram cycles, by using multiple memory areas serially or cyclically}
- G06F 11/004: {Error avoidance (G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence)}
- G11C 16/349: {Arrangements for evaluating degradation, retention or wearout, e.g. by counting erase cycles}
- G06F 11/076: {by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit}
- G06F 2201/88: Monitoring involving counting
- G11C 29/88: {with partially good memories}
- G11C: STATIC STORES (semiconductor memory devices H10B)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

An improved semiconductor memory device and a data writing method thereof capable of preventing semiconductor memory breakage and written data error which occur when data are predominantly written on a certain address by evenly writing the data on each address of a memory device, which includes a data region for writing a data; and a counter region for counting the number that a data is written on the data region.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A semiconductor memory device, comprising:
a memory location having a pair of regions;
the pair of regions comprising a data region at a first address for storing data which is written thereinto and a counter region corresponding to the data region, the counter region being adjoined to the data region and having a second address which immediately follows the address of the data region, said counter region serving for storing therein a count value indicating the number of times that data has been written in the data region.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor memory device of claim 1, wherein the count value in the counter region is incremented by one each time data is written into the corresponding data region.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The semiconductor memory device of claim 2, wherein the data region has an odd numbered address and the corresponding counter region has an even numbered address.

### Claim 4

A data writing method for a semiconductor memory device, comprising the steps of:
reading a value indicating the number of times that data has been written into a certain address of a data region when a data writing request is given;
designating the certain address as an address on which data is to be written when the read value is less than a certain value and writing the data at the certain address; and
selecting another address of the data region when the read value is greater than the certain value and repeating said reading and designating steps.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein each address of said data region makes a pair together with each address of the counter region, respectively, so that whenever a certain data is written on an address of the data region, the count value of each address of the counter region is increased by one (1), and thus the number that the data is written on the address of the data region is counted.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein said certain value is the effective number of the maximum writing of the data region.

### Claim 7

A data writing method for a semiconductor memory device, comprising the steps of:
reading a value of a counter region corresponding to a data region;
comparing the read counter region value with a predetermined value;
writing data into the data region if the read value is less than the predetermined value and incrementing the counter region value by one, and repeating the reading and comparing steps; and
incrementing the address of the data region if the read value equals the predetermined value.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined value corresponds to a maximum number of times that data may be written into the data region.