Flash memory system and method of generating quantized signal thereof

1. A flash memory system comprising:

a flash memory programming a selected page, providing a plurality of reference read voltages to a selected word line coupled to the selected page to generate a plurality of signals during a quantization signal generating operation, the plurality of signals corresponding to a plurality of quantization intervals, and generating a quantized signal by performing a logical operation on the plurality of signals; and

a memory controller receiving the quantized signal from the flash memory and generating a response using the quantized signal,

wherein the memory controller receives a challenge from a host and controls the flash memory to perform the quantization signal generating operation.

2. The flash memory system of claim 1 ,

wherein the selected page is programmed without a program verify operation.

3. The flash memory system of claim 2 ,

wherein the selected page is programmed with one program voltage or an increasing program voltage.

4. The flash memory system of claim 1 ,

wherein the plurality of reference read voltages are provided on the selected word line to separate into the plurality of quantization intervals.

5. The flash memory system of claim 4 ,

wherein the number of quantization intervals is greater than the number of program states.

6. The flash memory system of claim 1 ,

wherein the flash memory stores data for the quantized signal in some of the memory cells of the selected page.

7. The flash memory system of claim 6 ,

wherein the challenge includes combination order information for some of the memory cells.

8. The flash memory system of claim 7 ,

wherein the memory controller manages the combination order information for some memory cells using a map table of a flash translation layer.

9. The flash memory system of claim 1 ,

wherein the memory controller manages data information matched to a threshold voltage distribution state of the flash memory using a map table of a flash translation layer.

10. The flash memory system of claim 1 ,

wherein the memory controller receives the quantized signal from the flash memory and generates a quantized key.

11. The flash memory system of claim 1 , wherein the selected word line is coupled to a plurality of memory cells, and each of the plurality of signals has a plurality of values, each of the plurality of values indicating whether a threshold voltage of a corresponding one of the plurality of memory cells is in a corresponding one of the quantization intervals, and the flash memory performs an XOR operation on the plurality of signals to generate the quantized signal.

12. A flash memory system comprising:

a flash memory programming a memory block such that a threshold voltage distribution is grouped in units of subblocks, providing a plurality of reference read voltages to selected pages of selected subblocks during a quantization signal generating operation to generate a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals corresponding to a plurality of quantization intervals, respectively, and performing a logical operation on the plurality of signals to generate a quantized signal; and

a memory controller receiving the quantized signal from the flash memory and generating a response using the quantized signal,

wherein the memory controller receives a challenge from a host and controls the flash memory to perform the quantization signal generating operation.

13. The flash memory system of claim 12 ,

wherein the flash memory programs the memory block with the same data but applies the different program voltage for each subblock.

14. A method of generating a quantized signal of a flash memory system,

receiving a challenge from a host;

selecting a word line according to address information included in the challenge, and programming a selected page connected to the selected word line;

providing a plurality of reference read voltages to the selected word line to generate a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals corresponding to a plurality of quantization intervals, respectively; and

performing a logical operation on the plurality of signals to generate a quantized signal,

wherein the flash memory system generates a response using the quantized signal and provides the response to the host.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the program operation is performed without the program verify operation during the programming the selected page.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the selected page is programmed by one program voltage or an increasing program voltage.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of reference read voltages are provided on the selected word line to distinguish the plurality of quantization intervals.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

generating a quantized key using the quantized signal.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein data for the quantized signal is stored in some of memory cells of the selected page.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the challenge includes address information for the selected page.