IP Library Granted Patent US 11,055,227
Granted Patent B2
US 11,055,227 · App. 16/702,795 · Granted Jul 6, 2021

Controller and operating method thereof

Inventor: Ik Joon Son (Gyeonggi-do, KR)
Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
G06F12/0882G06F11/3037G06F12/0246G06F13/1668G11C11/409G11C11/4074G11C11/5628G11C11/5642G11C16/04G11C16/10G11C16/26G06F2212/1016G06F2212/7203G06F2212/7209
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,055,227
App. No.
16/702,795
Granted
Jul 6, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

A controller for controlling a non-volatile memory apparatus including page groups each including a plurality of pages is configured to select a target page group from the page groups, wherein the target page group includes at least one invalid page and at least one valid page, select, as a target threshold voltage distribution, a lower threshold voltage distribution of two adjacent threshold voltage distributions distinguished by an invalid read voltage, wherein the invalid read voltage is a read voltage for distinguishing between data stored in the invalid page, select, as a target memory cell, a memory cell located in the target threshold voltage distribution among a plurality of memory cells configuring the target page group, and control the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform an adjustment program operation for raising a threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as a first voltage.

Claims (43)

1. A controller for controlling a non-volatile memory apparatus comprising page groups each comprising a plurality of pages, wherein the controller is configured to:

select a target page group from the page groups, wherein the target page group comprises at least one invalid page and at least one valid page,

select, as a target threshold voltage distribution, a lower threshold voltage distribution of lower and higher threshold voltage distributions distinguished by an invalid read voltage, wherein the invalid read voltage is a read voltage for distinguishing data stored in the invalid page,

select, as a target memory cell, a memory cell having a threshold voltage belonging to the target threshold voltage distribution among a plurality of memory cells configuring the target page group, and

control the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform an adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as a first voltage.

2. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform the adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as the first voltage such that the threshold voltage of the target memory cell does not exceed the higher threshold voltage distribution of the lower and the higher threshold voltage distributions after the adjustment program operation is performed.

3. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform the adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as the first voltage such that the threshold voltage of the target memory cell becomes higher than the invalid read voltage after the adjustment program operation is performed.

4. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed when data stored in the valid page includes cold data.

5. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein:

the controller is further configured to raise, after the adjustment program operation is performed, a valid read voltage adjacent to the target threshold voltage distribution as much as a second voltage, and

the valid read voltage is a read voltage for distinguishing data stored in the valid page.

6. A controller for controlling a non-volatile memory apparatus comprising page groups each comprising three or more pages, wherein the controller is configured to:

select a target page group from the page groups, wherein the target page group comprises at least two invalid pages and at least one valid page,

select, as a target threshold voltage distribution, a lower threshold voltage distribution of two adjacent threshold voltage distributions distinguished by respective invalid read voltages, wherein the invalid read voltages are read voltages for distinguishing data stored in the invalid pages,

select, as a target memory cell, a memory cell having a threshold voltage belonging to the target threshold voltage distribution among a plurality of memory cells configuring the target page group, and

control the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform an adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as a first voltage.

7. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein the controller controls the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform the adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as the first voltage such that the threshold voltage of the target memory cell does not exceed the higher threshold voltage distribution of the two adjacent threshold voltage distributions after the adjustment program operation is performed.

8. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein the controller controls the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform the adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell as much as the first voltage such that the threshold voltage of the target memory cell becomes higher than an invalid read voltage that is adjacent in a voltage increase direction of the target threshold voltage distribution after the adjustment program operation is performed.

9. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein:

when the invalid read voltages comprise two or more adjacent invalid read voltages, the controller selects as the target threshold voltage distribution a lower threshold voltage distribution of the two adjacent threshold voltage distributions distinguished by a first read voltage, and

the first read voltage is a lowest invalid read voltage of the two or more adjacent invalid read voltages.

10. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed when data stored in the valid page includes cold data.

11. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed when the target page group is determined to stay in a partially invalid state based on a time interval for each of the invalid pages to be invalidated.

12. The controller according to claim 6 , wherein:

the controller is further configured to raise, after the adjustment program operation is performed, a valid read voltage adjacent to the target threshold voltage distribution as much as a second voltage, and

the valid read voltage is a read voltage for distinguishing data stored in the valid page.

13. A controller for controlling a non-volatile memory apparatus comprising page groups each comprising a plurality of pages, wherein the controller is configured to:

select a target page group from the page groups, wherein the target page group comprises at least one invalid page and at least one valid page,

select, as a target threshold voltage distribution, a threshold voltage distribution located between adjacent valid and invalid read voltages,

select, as a target memory cell, a memory cell having a threshold voltage belonging to the target threshold voltage distribution among a plurality of memory cells configuring the target page group, and

control the non-volatile memory apparatus to perform an adjustment program operation for raising the threshold voltage of the target memory cell.

14. The controller according to claim 13 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed so that the threshold voltage of the target memory cell does not exceed a first threshold voltage distribution adjacent in a voltage increase direction of the target threshold voltage distribution.

15. The controller according to claim 13 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed when data stored in the valid page includes cold data.

16. The controller according to claim 13 , wherein the adjustment program operation is performed when the target page group is determined to stay in a partially invalid state based on a time interval for each of invalid pages included in the target page group to be invalidated.

17. The controller according to claim 13 , wherein:

when each of the plurality of memory cells is a triple level cell (TLC), and each of the page groups comprises a most significant bit (MSB) page, a center significant bit (CSB) page and a least significant bit (LSB) page, the controller selects, as the target page group, a page group in which any one or two of the MSB page, the CSB page, and the LSB page are invalid pages.

18. The controller according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to raise, after the adjustment program operation is performed, the valid read voltage as much as a second voltage.

19. A memory system comprising;

a memory device including multiple level pages comprising one or more invalid pages and one or more valid pages; and

a controller configured to control the memory device to raise a threshold voltage of a memory cell,

wherein the threshold voltage of the memory cell is between neighboring lower and first higher read voltages, which respectively identify data stored in the valid and invalid pages,

wherein the threshold voltage of the memory cell is raised not to exceed a second higher read voltage, which is adjacent to and higher than the first higher read voltage and identifies data stored in the valid pages, to identify data stored in the memory cell of the raised threshold voltage, and

wherein the controller is further configured to control the memory device to raise the lower read voltage to identify data stored in the memory cell of the raised threshold voltage.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 7, 2024
From: SK HYNIX INC.
To: MIMIRIP LLC
Reel/Frame 067335/0246 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 4, 2019
From: SON, IK JOON
To: SK HYNIX INC.
Reel/Frame 051173/0252 →