Systems for soft programming non-volatile memory utilizing individual verification and additional soft programming of subsets of memory cells

A non-volatile memory system, comprising:

• a plurality of sets of non-volatile storage elements, each of said sets includes a first subset of non-volatile storage elements and a second subset of non-volatile storage elements;
• and
• managing circuitry in communication with said plurality of sets of non-volatile storage elements, said managing circuitry soft programs said plurality of sets of non-volatile storage elements by:
• applying one or more soft programming pulses to said plurality of sets until said plurality of sets is verified as soft programmed,
• inhibiting soft programming of said first subset of non-volatile storage elements in each set of non-volatile storage elements after said plurality of sets is verified as soft programmed, and
• applying one or more additional soft programming pulses to said second subset of non-volatile storage elements in each set while inhibiting soft programming of said first subset in each set.

A non-volatile memory system, comprising:

• a set of non-volatile storage elements, said set includes a first subset of non-volatile storage elements and a second subset of non-volatile storage elements;
• and
• managing circuitry in communication with said set of non-volatile storage elements, said managing circuitry soft-programs said set of non-volatile storage elements by:
• applying a soft programming voltage to each non-volatile storage element in said set,
• verifying whether said set of non-volatile storage elements is soft programmed,
• repeating said applying and verifying until said set of non-volatile storage elements is verified as soft programmed,
• applying said soft programming voltage to each non-volatile storage element in said second subset of said set of non-volatile storage elements after verifying that said set of non-volatile storage elements is soft programmed, and
• verifying whether said second subset of non-volatile storage elements is soft programmed while excluding said first subset from verification.