IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,265,630
Granted Patent B2
US 12,265,630 · App. 18/160,293 · Granted Apr 1, 2025

Row access strobe (RAS) clobber and row hammer failures using a deterministic protocol

Inventors: Yang Lu (Boise, ID); Markus H. Geiger (Boise, ID); Nathaniel J. Meier (Boise, ID)
Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
G06F21/577G06F21/554G11C8/18G11C29/022G11C29/50004G11C29/52G06F2221/034G11C2029/5002
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,265,630
App. No.
18/160,293
Granted
Apr 1, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

There are provided systems and methods that include at least one memory that has a plurality of memory cells. The cells may be disposed in rows and columns. The device can further include a controller that is communicatively coupled to the at least one memory, and the controller may be configured by its hardware topology and its instruction set and/or by a communicatively coupled processor or higher level system or subsystem to maintain data integrity in the at least one memory and/or to prevent or mitigate malicious access patterns that may compromise the at least one memory. The controller may be configured to execute a deterministic protocol in conjunction with or sequentially to a probabilistic protocol to achieve one or more of the above-noted functions.

Claims (26)

1. A memory device comprising:

at least one memory including a plurality of memory cells disposed in rows and columns; and

a controller, communicatively coupled to the at least one memory;

wherein the controller maintains data integrity in the at least one memory by executing a deterministic protocol; and

wherein the deterministic protocol is executed in conjunction with a base protocol configured for native failure risk mitigation, the base protocol including a probabilistic protocol, wherein the base protocol executed by the controller is configured to mitigate a risk of failure selected from the set of risk of failures consisting of a Row Hammer (RH) risk failure, a RAS Clobber risk failure, and a directed refresh management risk (DRFM) failure and when the risk failure is a RH risk failure, the deterministic protocol is configured to mitigate a RH1 risk (+/1 rows), a RH2 risk (+/−2 rows), a RAS clobber risk, and an inverse hammer risk.

2. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the memory device comprises a DRAM.

3. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the inverse hammer risk is a DRFM-induced RH failure risk consisting of a RH/3/4 (+/−3, 4) risk.

4. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the base protocol includes at least one of a RH refresh (RHR) protocol, an address sampling (AS) protocol, and a content addressable memory (CAM) protocol.

5. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the base protocol includes an activity tracking (AT) protocol.

6. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the base protocol includes further includes a native deterministic RH risk mitigation protocol.

7. The memory device of claim 6 , wherein the native deterministic RH risk mitigation protocol is based on a DRFM servicing protocol.

8. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the base protocol includes at least one of a space saving (SS) RH protocol, a Revised Misra-Grise RH protocol, and a lockout SS RH protocol.

9. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the base protocol includes a Ping-Pong protocol.

10. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to reset the deterministic protocol.

11. A method for mitigating risk of failure in a memory device, the method comprising:

performing, by a controller communicatively coupled to the memory device, operations including:

executing a deterministic risk mitigation protocol in conjunction with a base protocol for native risk mitigation, the base protocol including a probabilistic risk protocol, wherein the base protocol executed by the controller is configured to mitigate a risk of failure selected from the set of risk of failures consisting of a Row Hammer (RH) risk failure, a RAS Clobber risk failure, and a directed refresh management risk (DRFM) failure and when the risk failure is a RH risk failure, the deterministic protocol is configured to mitigate a RH1 risk (+/1 rows), a RH2 risk (+/−2 rows), a RAS clobber risk, and an inverse hammer risk.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the memory device comprises a DRAM.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the inverse hammer risk is a DRFM-induced RH failure risk consisting of a RH/3/4 (+/−3, 4) risk.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base protocol includes at least one of a RH refresh (RHR) protocol, an address sampling (AS) protocol, and a content addressable memory (CAM) protocol; and

wherein the base protocol includes an activity tracking (AT) protocol.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base protocol includes further includes a native deterministic RH risk mitigation protocol.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for mitigating risk of failure in a memory device, the method comprising:

performing, by a controller communicatively coupled to the memory device, operations including:

executing a deterministic risk mitigation protocol in conjunction with a base protocol for native risk mitigation, the base protocol including a probabilistic risk protocol,

wherein the base protocol executed by the controller is configured to mitigate a risk of failure selected from the set of risk of failures consisting of a Row Hammer (RH) risk failure, a RAS Clobber risk failure, and a directed refresh management risk (DRFM) failure and when the risk failure is a RH risk failure, the deterministic protocol is configured to mitigate a RH1 risk (+/1 rows), a RH2 risk (+/−2 rows), a RAS clobber risk, and an inverse hammer risk.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 25, 2023
From: LU, YANG; GEIGER, MARKUS H.; MEIER, NATHAN J.
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 063428/0323 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63303550 · Jan 27, 2022
Related Publication 20230244793A1 · Aug 3, 2023
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