Programming and/or erasing a memory device in response to its program and/or erase history

1. A method of operating a memory device, comprising:

sending a number of program/erase cycles from a memory of control logic of the memory device to a counter of the control logic, wherein the number of program/erase cycles has been previously applied to one or more memory cells of an array of memory cells of the memory device;

using the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells;

using compare logic of the control logic to compare the incremented number of program/erase cycles to a numerical value; and

using starting-voltage level control logic of the control logic to adjust a program starting voltage level and/or an erase starting voltage level based on the comparison of the incremented number of program/erase cycles to the numerical value.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the memory by sending the incremented number of program/erase cycles from the counter to the memory.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the incremented number of program/erase cycles in the memory.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the incremented number of program/erase cycles is stored upon power-down of the memory device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells is in response to receiving a signal indicative that the additional program/erase cycle has occurred from a control state machine of the control logic.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising using the control state machine to control programming and/or erasing of the one or more memory cells.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the signal indicative that the additional program/erase cycle has occurred comprises a clock pulse that causes the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles by one each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the numerical value is part of a look-up table of the memory device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level further comprises:

setting the program starting voltage level to a first program level and/or setting the erase starting voltage level to a first erase level when the incremented number of program/erase cycles is less than the numerical value; and

setting the program starting voltage level to a second program level and/or setting the erase starting voltage level to a second erase level when the incremented number of program/erase cycles is greater than or equal to the numerical value.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level comprises adjusting the program starting voltage level so that a number of programming pulses applied to the one or more memory cells remains substantially fixed regardless of the number of program/erase cycles and/or adjusting the erase starting voltage level so that a number of erase pulses applied to a substrate on which the one or more memory cells are formed remains fixed regardless of the number of program/erase cycles.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising resetting the counter before sending the number of program/erase cycles from the memory to the counter.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein resetting the counter comprises resetting the counter upon power-up of the memory device.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein sending the number of program/erase cycles from the memory to the counter is part of an initialization sequence of the memory device.

14. A method of operating a memory device, comprising:

sending a number of program/erase cycles from a memory of control logic of the memory device to a counter of the control logic, wherein the number of program/erase cycles have been previously applied to one or more memory cells of an array of memory cells of the memory device;

using the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells;

using compare logic of the control logic to compare the incremented number of program/erase cycles to a numerical value;

using starting-voltage level control logic of the control logic to adjust a program starting voltage level and/or an erase starting voltage level based on the comparison of the incremented number of program/erase cycles to the numerical value; and

using a voltage regulator to set a program voltage to the program starting voltage level and/or to set an erase voltage to the erase starting voltage level.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein using the voltage regulator to set the program voltage to the program starting voltage level and/or to set the erase voltage to the erase starting voltage level comprises using a trim of the voltage regulator to set the program starting voltage to the program starting voltage level and/or to set the erase starting voltage to the erase starting voltage level.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein using the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells is in response to the counter receiving a signal from a control state machine of the control logic, indicating that the additional program/erase cycle has occurred.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein using starting-voltage level control logic of the control logic to adjust the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level based on the comparison of the incremented number of program/erase cycles to the numerical value comprises outputting a signal from the compare logic to the starting-voltage level control logic in response, at least in part, to the comparison of the incremented number of program/erase cycles to the numerical value and using the starting-voltage level control logic to adjust the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level in response to the signal from the compare logic.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein adjusting the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level comprises adjusting the program starting voltage level so that the program starting voltage level decreases and/or the erase starting voltage level increases as the number of the program/erase cycles increases.

19. A method of operating a memory device, comprising:

resetting a counter of control logic of the memory device upon power-up of the memory device;

after resetting the counter, sending a number of program/erase cycles from a memory of the control logic to the counter, wherein the number of program/erase cycles have been previously applied to one or more memory cells of an array of memory cells of the memory device;

using the counter to increment the number of program/erase cycles each time an additional program/erase cycle is applied to the one or more memory cells;

using compare logic of the control logic to compare the incremented number of program/erase cycles to a numerical value;

using starting-voltage level control logic of the control logic to adjust a program starting voltage level and/or an erase starting voltage level based on the comparison of the incremented number of program/erase cycles to the numerical value; and

storing the incremented number of program/erase cycles in the memory upon power-down of the memory device.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the numerical value is a first numerical value, wherein adjusting the program starting voltage level and/or the erase starting voltage level further comprises:

setting the program starting voltage level to a first program level and/or setting the erase starting voltage level to a first erase level when the incremented number of program/erase cycles is less than the first numerical value;

using the compare logic to compare the incremented number of program/erase cycles to a second numerical value; and

setting the program starting voltage level to a second program level and/or setting the erase starting voltage level to a second erase level when the incremented number of program/erase cycles is greater than or equal to the first numerical value and less than the second numerical value.