Semiconductor memory device and operating method for inhibiting programming

1. An operating method of a semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memory cells each having one of “n” number of program statuses as a target program status, the operating method comprising:

setting a first group of the memory cells, which have a first group of the program statuses as the target program status, to a program permit mode;

setting a second group of the memory cells, which have a second group of the program statuses as the target program status, to a program inhibit mode;

performing a program operation and a program verification operation to an i-th one of the “n” program statuses in ascending order of level of the program statuses; and

immediately changing one or more of the memory cells of the first group of the memory cells having the i-th program status from the program permit mode to the program inhibit mode, and one or more of the memory cells of the second group of the memory cells having an (i+k)th program status to from the program inhibit mode to the program permit mode when the program verification operation to the i-th program status succeeds,

wherein the k is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

2. The operating method of claim 1 , wherein the performing of the program operation includes:

providing a program permit voltage to the first group of the memory cells; and

providing a program inhibit voltage to the second group of the memory cells.

3. The operating method of claim 1 , wherein the changing comprises:

determining the success of the program verification operation to the i-th program status when threshold voltages of the memory cells having the i-th program status reaches the i-th program status.

4. A semiconductor memory device, comprising:

a plurality of memory cells each having one of “n” number of program statuses as a target program status; and

a peripheral circuit configured to:

set a first group of the memory cells, which have a first group of the program statuses as the target program status, to a program permit mode;

set a second group of the memory cells, which have a second group of the program statuses as the target program status, to a program inhibit mode;

perform a program operation and a program verification operation to an i-th one of the “n” program statuses in ascending order of level of the program statuses; and

immediately change one or more of the memory cells of the first group of the memory cells having the i-th program status from the program permit mode to the program inhibit mode, and one or more of the memory cells of the second group of the memory cells having an (i+k)th program status to from the program inhibit mode to the program permit mode when the program verification operation to the i-th program status succeeds,

wherein the k is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

5. The semiconductor memory device of claim 4 , wherein the peripheral circuit provides a program permit voltage to the first group of the memory cells, and provides a program inhibit voltage to the second group of the memory cells during the program operation.

6. The semiconductor memory device of claim 4 , wherein the peripheral circuit determines the success of the program verification operation to the i-th program status when threshold voltages of the memory cells having the i-th program status reaches the i-th program status during the changing.