IP Library Granted Patent US 11,810,621
Granted Patent B2
US 11,810,621 · App. 17/458,795 · Granted Nov 7, 2023

Memory sub-system sanitization

Inventors: Eric N. Lee (San Jose, CA); Robert W. Strong (Folsom, CA); William Akin (Morgan Hill, CA); Jeremy Binfet (Boise, ID)
Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
G11C16/16G11C16/102G11C16/26G11C16/30
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,810,621
App. No.
17/458,795
Granted
Nov 7, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method includes receiving signaling indicative of performance of a sanitization operation to a processing device coupled to a memory device and applying a sanitization voltage to a plurality of memory blocks of the memory device. The sanitization voltage can be greater than an erase voltage of the plurality of memory blocks.

Claims (31)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving signaling indicative of performance of a sanitization operation to a processing device coupled to a memory device;

increasing a source line voltage for a plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to a sanitization voltage; and

applying the sanitization voltage to the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device, wherein the sanitization voltage is greater than an erase voltage of the plurality of memory blocks.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sanitization voltage is applied to the plurality of memory blocks in parallel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sanitization voltage is applied to the plurality of memory blocks as only a single pulse.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of memory blocks comprise each memory block of the memory device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling each of the plurality of memory blocks to receive the sanitization voltage.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling a subset of memory blocks while disabling a different subset of memory blocks, wherein the enabled memory blocks receive the sanitization voltage.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a sanitization component configured to:

receive signaling indicative of performance of a sanitization operation to a memory device; and

increase a source line voltage for a plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to a sanitization voltage, wherein the sanitization voltage is greater than an erase voltage of the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the source line voltage for the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device is increased to the sanitization voltage in parallel for each of the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the sanitization voltage is sufficient to erase any block of the memory device with only a single pulse.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the increase of the source line voltage for the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to the sanitization voltage degrades a number of memory cells of the memory device more than an increase of the source line voltage for the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to the erase voltage.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the sanitization component is configured to increase the source line voltage for the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to the sanitization voltage a predetermined number of times.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined number of times is one.

13. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the increase of the source line voltage for the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device to the sanitization voltage removes all data from the plurality of memory blocks of the memory device.

14. A system, comprising:

a plurality of memory components arranged to form a stackable cross-gridded array of memory cells; and

a processing device coupled to the plurality of memory components, the processing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving signaling indicative of performance of a sanitization operation;

increasing a source line voltage for a plurality of memory blocks to a sanitization voltage; and

applying the sanitization voltage to the plurality of memory blocks each comprising subsets of the array of memory cells, wherein the sanitization voltage is greater than an erase voltage of the plurality of memory blocks.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the sanitization voltage is applied to the plurality of memory blocks in parallel.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the sanitization voltage is applied to the plurality of memory blocks as only a single pulse.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processing device is to perform operations comprising enabling each of the plurality of memory blocks to receive the sanitization voltage.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processing device is to perform operations comprising enabling each memory block of the plurality of memory components to receive the sanitization voltage.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system comprises a mobile computing device.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the applying the sanitization voltage to the plurality of memory blocks removes all data from the plurality of memory blocks.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 27, 2021
From: LEE, ERIC N.; STRONG, ROBERT W.; AKIN, WILLIAM; BINFET, JEREMY
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 057307/0026 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230062226A1 · Mar 2, 2023
Cited By (1)
US 12,237,018