Non-volatile semiconductor memory
AssigneeWinbond Electronics Corp.
InventorMasaru Yano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A non-volatile semiconductor memory includes a memory array. In a programming operation, programming pulses are applied to a page of the memory array to program data to the page. In an erase operation, erase pulses are applied to a block of the memory array to erase data in the block. The non-volatile semiconductor memory performs a pre-program operation before the erase operation and a post-erase operation after the erase operation. In the pre-program operation, each page of the block is programmed according to voltage information relating programming pulses. In the erase operation, data in the block is erased according to the voltage information relating programming pulses.
Claims17
A non-volatile semiconductor memory, comprising:
- a memory array, comprising a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form,
- wherein in a programming operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory applies one or more than one programming pulse on a selected page of the memory array to program data to the selected page,
- wherein in an erase operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory applies one or more than one erase pulse on a selected block of the memory array to erase data in the selected block, wherein the selected block includes a plurality of pages, and the selected page is one of the plurality of pages,
- wherein before the erase operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory performs a pre-program operation,
- wherein after the erase operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory performs a post-erase operation,
- wherein in the post-erase operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory writes in voltage information relating to programming pulses of each page of the selected block and voltage information relating to erase pulses of the selected block to a predefined region in the selected block,
- wherein in the pre-program operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory programs each page of the selected block according to voltage information relating to programming pulses which is stored in the predefined region, and
- wherein in the erase operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory erases data in the selected block according to voltage information relating to erase pulses which is stored in the predefined region.
A non-volatile semiconductor memory, comprising:
- a memory array, comprising a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form, wherein in a programming operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory applies one or more than one programming pulse on a selected page of the memory array to program data to the selected page, and in an erase operation performed before the programming operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory erases data in a selected block of the memory array;
- and
- a storage unit, comprising a predefined region, wherein when the data in the selected block is erased, the predefined region is used to store voltage information relating to programming pulses of all pages in the selected block in the erase operation,
- wherein in the programming operation, the non-volatile semiconductor memory reads out voltage information relating to programming pulses of the selected page from the predefined region, applies a first programming pulse according to the voltage information relating to programming pulses of the selected page, and then determines a voltage of a second programming pulse according to a verify result.
An erasing method, applied to a non-volatile semiconductor memory, wherein the non-volatile semiconductor memory comprises a memory array consisting of a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form, wherein the erasing method comprises:
- selecting a block comprising a plurality of pages according to an erase command and address information;
- reading out, from a predefined region in the block, voltage information relating to programming pulses which are used when programming each page in the block;
- performing a pre-program operation on each page in the block according to the voltage information relating to programming pulses;
- erasing the block according to voltage information relating to erase pulses;
- updating the voltage information relating to programming pulses and the voltage information relating to erase pulses according to predefined criteria;
- and
- writing-in the updated voltage information relating to programming pulses and the updated voltage information relating to erase pulses to the predefined region in a post-erase operation.
A programming method, applied to a non-volatile semiconductor memory, wherein the non-volatile semiconductor memory comprises a memory array consisting of a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form, wherein when data in a block of the memory array is erased, information relating to programming pulses which are used when programming a page in the book is stored to a predefined region, wherein the programming method comprises:
- selecting a page according to a programming command and address information;
- reading out the information form the predefined region;
- applying a first programming pulse to the page according to the information;
- verifying the page by using a predefined voltage;
- and
- determining a voltage of a second programming pulse according to a result of verifying the page by using the predefined voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.