Erase health metric to rank memory portions

1. A method, comprising:

for each of a plurality of non-volatile memory portions of a non-volatile memory device, determining a respective erase health metric for each of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions by combining an erase difficulty metric and an age metric, including:

calculating the erase difficulty metric for a respective non-volatile memory portion, wherein the erase difficulty metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion is based on one or more erase performance metrics obtained during a plurality of erase phases of an erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion;

wherein:

each of the plurality of erase phases of the erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion comprises:

performing an erase using an erase voltage; and

determining an erase statistic for the performed erase, wherein the erase statistic for the performed phase includes a number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion having cell voltages that fail to satisfy a criterion corresponding to the performed erase; and

the one or more erase performance metrics include:

the number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

a change in voltage between an initial erase voltage used during an initial erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion, and a final erase voltage used in a final erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

determining the age metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion based on a total number of erase operations performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion during a lifespan of the non-volatile memory device; and

after determining the respective erase health metric for each of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device:

ranking non-volatile memory portions, including at least the plurality of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device, in accordance with the determined respective erase health metrics; and

selecting a non-volatile memory portion of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions in accordance with the ranking of the non-volatile memory portions, and writing data to the selected non-volatile memory portion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

said ranking includes determining a highest ranked non-volatile memory portion of the non-volatile memory device; and

writing data to the selected non-volatile memory portion comprises writing data to the highest ranked non-volatile memory portion.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more erase performance metrics further include:

a number of successive erase phases required to satisfy a stopping condition during the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein calculating the erase difficulty metric includes calculating the erase difficulty metric in accordance with:

a first normalization coefficient associated with the number of successive erase phases of the erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

a second normalization coefficient associated with the total number of erase operations performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion during the lifespan of the non-volatile memory device, wherein the first normalization coefficient is inversely related to the second normalization coefficient.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein calculating the erase difficulty metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion includes calculating a weighted sum of two or more of the erase performance metrics for the respective non-volatile memory portion.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the one or more erase performance metrics further include a weighted sum of counts; and

each count in the weighted sum of counts comprises an erase statistic for the respective non-volatile memory portion after each of two or more of the successive erase phases.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after ranking said non-volatile memory portions, generating an ordered list of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device based on their respective erase difficulty metrics.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

said ranking of the non-volatile memory portions includes ranking two or more non-volatile memory portions having a same erase health metric in accordance with a tie-breaker metric; and

the tie-breaker metric for each non-volatile memory portion of the two or more non-volatile memory portions is based at least in part on the total number of erase operations performed on the non-volatile memory portion during the lifespan of the non-volatile memory device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data includes one or more data streams; and

writing the data to the selected non-volatile memory portion comprises writing a first data stream of the one or more data streams to the selected non-volatile memory portion of the non-volatile memory device.

10. A storage system, comprising:

a storage medium;

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the storage system to:

for each of a plurality of non-volatile memory portions of a non-volatile memory device, determine a respective erase health metric for each of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions by combining an erase difficulty metric and an age metric, including:

calculate the erase difficulty metric for a respective non-volatile memory portion, wherein the erase difficulty metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion is based on one or more erase performance metrics obtained during a plurality of erase phases of an erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion;

wherein:

each of the plurality of erase phases of the erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion comprises:

performing an erase using an erase voltage; and

determining an erase statistic for the performed erase, wherein the erase statistic for the performed phase includes a number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion having cell voltages that fail to satisfy a criterion corresponding to the performed erase; and

the one or more erase performance metrics include:

the number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

a change in voltage between an initial erase voltage used during an initial erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion, and a final erase voltage used in a final erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

determine the age metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion based on a total number of erase operations performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion during a lifespan of the non-volatile memory device; and

after determining the respective erase health metric for each of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device:

rank non-volatile memory portions, including at least the plurality of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device, in accordance with the determined respective erase health metrics; and

select a non-volatile memory portion of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions in accordance with the ranking of the non-volatile memory portions, and write data to the selected non-volatile memory portion.

11. The storage system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more programs include:

an erase module having instructions for determining the erase health metric; and

a block ranking module having instructions for ranking the non-volatile memory portions in accordance with the determined respective erase health metrics.

12. The storage system of claim 10 , wherein said ranking includes:

determining a highest ranked non-volatile memory portion of the non-volatile memory device; and

writing data to the selected non-volatile memory portion comprises writing data to the highest ranked non-volatile memory portion.

13. The storage system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more erase performance metrics further include:

a number of successive erase phases required to satisfy a stopping condition during the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion.

14. The storage system of claim 13 , wherein calculating the erase difficulty metric includes calculating the erase difficulty metric in accordance with:

a first normalization coefficient associated with the number of successive erase phases of the erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

a second normalization coefficient associated with the total number of erase operations performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion during the lifespan of the non-volatile memory device, wherein the first normalization coefficient is inversely related to the second normalization coefficient.

15. The storage system of claim 13 , wherein calculating the erase difficulty metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion includes calculating a weighted sum of two or more of the erase performance metrics for the respective non-volatile memory portion.

16. The storage system of claim 13 , wherein:

the one or more erase performance metrics further include a weighted sum of counts; and

each count in the weighted sum of counts comprises an erase statistic for the respective non-volatile memory portion after each of two or more of the successive erase phases.

17. The storage system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the storage system to, after ranking said non-volatile memory portions, generate an ordered list of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device based on their respective erase difficulty metrics.

18. A storage system, comprising:

means for determining, for each of a plurality of non-volatile memory portions of a non-volatile memory device, a respective erase health metric for each of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions by combining an erase difficulty metric and an age metric, including:

means for calculating the erase difficulty metric for a respective non-volatile memory portion, wherein the erase difficulty metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion is based on one or more erase performance metrics obtained during a plurality of erase phases of an erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion;

wherein:

each of the plurality of erase phases of the erase operation performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion comprises:

performing an erase using an erase voltage; and

determining an erase statistic for the performed erase, wherein the erase statistic for the performed phase includes a number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion having cell voltages that fail to satisfy a criterion corresponding to the performed erase; and

the one or more erase performance metrics include:

the number of non-erased memory cells in the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

a change in voltage between an initial erase voltage used during an initial erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion, and a final erase voltage used in a final erase phase of the erase operation on the respective non-volatile memory portion; and

means for determining the age metric for the respective non-volatile memory portion based on a total number of erase operations performed on the respective non-volatile memory portion during a lifespan of the non-volatile memory device; and

means for ranking non-volatile memory portions, including at least the plurality of non-volatile memory portions of the non-volatile memory device, in accordance with the determined respective erase health metrics; and

means for selecting a non-volatile memory portion of the plurality of non-volatile memory portions in accordance with the ranking of the non-volatile memory portions, and write data to the selected non-volatile memory portion.