Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having reduced erasing time
View Patent ↗An operation of erasing data in a memory block of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device employs an operation of collectively applying an erase pulse to the memory block, and an operation of collectively applying an erase pulse to a limited region in the memory block. Thereby, the number of the erase pulses excessively applied to the memory cells, which passed verify, can be reduced as compared with a conventional structure so that the number of the memory cells to be subjected to over-erase recovery write decreases, and the total block erase time can be short.
1. A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprising:
a memory block including a plurality of memory transistors arranged in rows and columns, and each having a control gate and a floating gate, a plurality of word lines arranged corresponding to rows of said plurality of memory transistors, respectively, and a plurality of bit lines arranged corresponding to the columns of said plurality of memory cells, respectively;
a select circuit selecting an application target of an erase pulse in said memory block; and
a write erase control portion controlling data erasing in said memory block when information held by said memory block is to be collectively erased, wherein
said collective erasing provides states including:
a first erased state attained at a midpoint in a course of the collective erasing, and
a second erased state attained after said first erased state,
said first and second erased states exhibit a distribution of threshold voltages of said plurality of memory transistors lower than predetermined first and second threshold voltages, respectively, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit,
to select collectively the memory transistors in said memory block for repetitively applying a first erase pulse until said memory block enters said first erased state,
to perform selection such that a write pulse weaker than a write pulse for usual writing is applied to the memory transistor in said memory block after said memory block enters said first erased state, and
to perform selection such that said memory block is divided into a plurality of regions, and said regions are successively selected to apply a second erase pulse collectively to each of said regions until said memory block enters said second erased state.
2. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein
said select circuit operates in accordance with an instruction of said write erase control portion to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said first erase pulse, and to select collectively a part of said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said second erase pulse.
3. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 2 , wherein
said write erase control portion performs a verify operation of reading data from said memory block while successively changing row and column addresses, and determining whether said memory block is in said second erased state or not, and instructs said select circuit to apply said second erase pulse to the memory transistor connected to said part of the word lines every time a result of said verify operation exhibits failing, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit such that said part of the word lines include the word line corresponding to a row address designated when the result of said verify operation exhibits the failing.
4. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein
said write erase control portion operates, in an operation of applying said first erase pulse, to apply data for collectively erasing said plurality of bit lines, and operates, in an operation of applying said second erase pulse, to apply said data for erasing to a part of said plurality of bit lines.
5. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 4 , wherein
said write erase control portion performs a verify operation of reading data from said memory block while successively changing row and column addresses, and determining whether said memory block is in said second erased state or not, and instructs said select circuit to apply said second erase pulse to the memory transistor connected to said part of the bit lines every time a result of said verify operation exhibits failing, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit such that said part of the bit lines include the bit line corresponding to a column address designated when the result of said verify operation exhibits the failing.
6. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein
said select circuit operates in accordance with an instruction of said write erase control portion to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said first erase pulse, to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said second erase pulse when times of application of said second erase pulse are lower than a predetermined number, and to select collectively a part of said plurality of word lines in said operation of applying said second erase pulse when the times of application of said second erase pulse are equal to or larger than the predetermined number.
7. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 6 , wherein
said write erase control portion performs a verify operation of reading data from said memory block while successively changing row and column addresses, and determining whether said memory block is in said second erased state or not, and instructs said select circuit to apply said second erase pulse to the memory transistor connected to the word line selected by said select circuit every time a result of said verify operation exhibits failing, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit such that said part of the word lines include the word line corresponding to a row address designated when the result of said verify operation exhibits the failing.
8. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein
said second threshold voltage is higher than said first threshold voltage.
9. A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprising:
a memory block including a plurality of memory transistors arranged in rows and columns, and each having a control gate and a floating gate, a plurality of word lines arranged corresponding to rows of said plurality of memory transistors, respectively, and a plurality of bit lines arranged corresponding to the columns of said plurality of memory cells, respectively;
a select circuit selecting an application target of an erase pulse in said memory block; and
a write erase control portion controlling data erasing in said memory block when information held by said memory block is to be collectively erased, wherein
said collective erasing provides states including:
a first erased state attained at a midpoint in a course of the collective erasing, and
a second erased state attained after said first erased state,
said first and second erased states exhibit a distribution of threshold voltages of said plurality of memory transistors lower than predetermined first and second threshold voltages, respectively,
a first written state exhibits the distribution of the threshold voltages of said plurality of memory cells exceeding a predetermined threshold voltage lower than said first threshold voltage, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit:
to select collectively the memory transistors in said memory block for repetitively applying a first erase pulse until said memory block enters said first erased state,
to perform division of said memory block into a plurality of regions, and successively selection of said respective regions for applying a write pulse weaker than a write pulse for usual writing collectively to each of said regions after said memory block enters said first erased state, and
to select collectively the memory transistors in said memory block for applying a second erase pulse to said memory block until said memory block enters said second erased state.
10. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 9 , wherein
said select circuit operates in accordance with an instruction of said write erase control portion to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said first erase pulse, and to select collectively a part of said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said write pulse weaker than the write pulse for usual writing.
11. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 10 , wherein
said write erase control portion performs a verify operation of reading data from said memory block while successively changing row and column addresses, and determining whether said memory block is in said first written state or not, and instructs said select circuit to apply said write pulse weaker than the write pulse for usual writing to the memory transistor connected to said part of the word lines every time a result of said verify operation exhibits failing, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit such that said part of the word lines include the word line corresponding to a row address designated when the result of said verify operation exhibits the failing.
12. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 9 , wherein
said select circuit operates in accordance with an instruction of said write erase control portion to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said first erase pulse,
to select collectively said plurality of word lines in an operation of applying said write pulse weaker than the write pulse for usual writing when times of application of said write pulse are lower than a predetermined number, and to select collectively a part of said plurality of word lines in said operation of applying said write pulse weaker than the write pulse for usual writing when the times of application of said write pulse are equal to or larger than the predetermined number.
13. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to claim 12 , wherein
said write erase control portion performs a verify operation of reading data from said memory block while successively changing row and column addresses, and determining whether said memory block is in said first written state or not, and instructs said select circuit to apply said write pulse weaker than the write pulse for usual writing to the memory transistor connected to the word line selected by said select circuit every time a result of said verify operation exhibits failing, and
said write erase control portion instructs said select circuit such that said part of the word lines include the word line corresponding to a row address designated when the result of said verify operation exhibits the failing.