Granted Patent B2

US 8,681,568 · App. 14/041,697 · Granted Mar 25, 2014

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A memory system, comprising:

a group of non-volatile memory cells

a memory controller configured to:

apply a first programming pulse to a subset of the group of non-volatile memory cells, wherein the subset needs additional programming;

identify a portion of the subset still needing additional programming;

determine a ratio of the number of memory cells in the subset and the number of memory cells in the portion;

select a size of a second programming pulse based on the ratio; and

apply the second programming pulse to the portion.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a difference between the portion and the subset is a number of non-volatile memory cells that became sufficiently programmed during the applying of the first programming pulse.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the non-volatile memory cells that became sufficiently programmed during the applying of the first programming pulse became sufficiently soft programmed.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the non-volatile memory cells that became sufficiently programmed during the applying of the first programming pulse became sufficiently programmed to be distinguishable from non-volatile memory cells that were in an erased condition.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the select the size comprises using the ratio to find the size of the second programming pulse in a look-up table.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the size of the second programming pulse is greater than that of the first programming pulse.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the size of the second programming pulse is greater by having a greater voltage.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the size of the second programming pulse is greater by having a greater duration.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to:

identify a subportion of the portion still needing additional programming;

determine a ratio of the number of non-volatile memory cells in the subportion and the number of memory cells in the portion;

select a size of a third programming pulse based on the ratio of the number of memory cells in the portion and the number of non-volatile memory cells in the subportion; and

apply the third programming pulse to the subportion.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the size of the third programming pulse is greater than that of the second programming pulse.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the ratio of the number of memory cells in the subportion and the number of memory cells in the portion is the number of memory cells in the subportion divided by the number of non-volatile memory cells in the portion.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the ratio of the number of memory cells in the subportion and the number of memory cells in the portion is the number of non-volatile memory cells in the portion divided by the number of non-volatile memory cells in the subportion.

13. The system of claim 9 , further comprising determining if the applying the third programming pulse to the subportion resulted in all of the non-volatile memories in the subportion being sufficiently programmed.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to:

identify a subset of the subportion still needing additional programming;

determine a ratio of the number of non-volatile memory cells in the subset and the number of memory cells in the subportion;

select a size of a fourth programming pulse based on the ratio of the number of memory cells in the subset and the number of memory cells in the subportion; and

apply the fourth programming pulse to the subset.

15. A memory system, comprising:

a plurality of non-volatile memory cells;

a memory controller operable to:

apply a first soft programming pulse to the plurality of non-volatile memory cells;

identify which non-volatile memory cells of the plurality of non-volatile memory cells that need additional soft programming;

find a ratio based on the number of non-volatile memory cells receiving the first soft programming pulse and the number of non-volatile memory cells still needing additional soft programming; and

apply additional soft programming pulses until all of the non-volatile memory cells of the plurality of memory cells have been soft programmed, wherein each additional soft programming pulse of the additional soft programming pulses has a size selected based on a ratio of the number of non-volatile memory cells to which an immediately previous additional software programming pulse was applied and the number of non-volatile memory cells still needing soft programming immediately after the immediately previous additional soft programming pulse was applied.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein a look-up table is used to determine the sizes of the additional soft programming pulses based on the ratio.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the sizes vary in at least one of voltage magnitude and duration.

18. A memory system, comprising:

a memory array including a plurality of non-volatile memory cells that are functional for reading when in a programmed state or in an erased state;

an adjustable voltage supply coupled to the memory array;

a memory controller for:

directing the adjustable voltage supply to apply a first programming pulse to a subset of the plurality of non-volatile memory cells when the subset needs additional programming;

identifying a portion of the subset still needing additional programming;

determining a ratio of the number of memory cells in the subset and the number of memory cells in the portion;

selecting a voltage of a second programming pulse based on the ratio; and

directing the adjustable voltage supply to apply the second programming pulse to the portion.

19. The memory system of claim 18 , wherein the array comprises a plurality of pages, wherein the plurality of non-volatile memory cells is a first page of the plurality of pages.

20. The memory system of claim 19 , further comprising a look-up table that provides voltage magnitude information for programming pulses based on ratios provided by the memory controller to the look-up table.

Assignments (25)