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US 9,177,672 B2Granted
Methods of operating memory involving identifiers indicating repair of a memory cell
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorNicholas Hendrickson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method of operating memory including storing and/or using an identifier indicating repair of a memory cell.
Claims20
A method of operating a memory, comprising:
- in response to a read operation of a particular address for a particular memory cell, checking a stored identifier comprising a plurality of address portions collectively representing an address of a corresponding memory cell and an enable indicator for a particular address portion of the plurality of address portions and indicating repair of the memory cell corresponding to the identifier;
- if the enable indicator has a first value, reading a redundant memory cell instead of the particular memory cell when each address portion of the plurality of address portions matches a corresponding portion of the particular address;
- and
- if the enable indicator has a second value different than the first value, reading a redundant memory cell instead of the particular memory cell when each address portion of the plurality of address portions other than the particular portion matches a corresponding portion of the particular address.
1 more element
A method of operating a memory, comprising:
- performing a program operation on a particular memory cell, and if the particular memory cell is deemed to be unprogrammable during the program operation, repairing the particular memory cell and storing an identifier corresponding to the particular memory cell and indicating that the particular memory cell has been repaired;
- initiating an erase operation on a group of memory cells containing the particular memory cell;
- reading the identifier in response to initiating the erase operation on the group of memory cells;
- and
- if a portion of the identifier has a particular value, storing a different value to the portion of the identifier.
2 more elements
A method of operating a memory, comprising:
- performing a program operation on a particular memory cell, and if the particular memory cell is deemed to be unprogrammable during the program operation, repairing the particular memory cell and storing an identifier comprising a plurality of address portions collectively representing an address of the particular memory cell and an enable indicator for a particular address portion of the plurality of address portions and indicating that the particular memory cell has been repaired;
- initiating an erase operation on a group of memory cells containing the particular memory cell;
- reading the identifier in response to initiating the erase operation on the group of memory cells and if the enable indicator has a particular value, storing a different value to the enable indicator;
- initiating a read operation of a particular address of a corresponding memory cell;
- checking the stored identifier in response to initiating the read operation;
- if the enable indictor has the particular value, reading a redundant memory cell instead of the memory cell corresponding to the particular address when each address portion of the plurality of address portions matches a corresponding portion of the particular address;
- and
- if the enable indicator has the different value, reading a redundant memory cell instead of the memory cell corresponding to the particular address when each address portion of the plurality of address portions other than the particular portion matches a corresponding portion of the particular address.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.