IP Library Granted Patent US 12,423,182
Granted Patent B2
US 12,423,182 · App. 18/399,864 · Granted Sep 23, 2025

Memory device and operation method thereof

Inventors: Seongmuk Kang (Suwon-si, KR); Kyung-Ho Lee (Suwon-si, KR); Myungkyu Lee (Suwon-si, KR); Ki-Heung Kim (Suwon-si, KR); Kyomin Sohn (Suwon-si, KR); Kijun Lee (Suwon-si, KR); Sunghye Cho (Suwon-si, KR); Hyongryol Hwang (Suwon-si, KR)
Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
G06F11/1068G11C7/06G11C7/1078G11C7/12G11C29/42
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,423,182
App. No.
18/399,864
Granted
Sep 23, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A memory device includes an ECC circuit that performs error correction code (ECC) encoding on input data to generate write data, and a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells that stores the write data. The ECC circuit includes a data splitter that splits the input data into first sub-data and second sub-data, a first ECC encoder that performs ECC encoding on the first sub-data to generate first sub-parity data, a second ECC encoder that performs ECC encoding on the second sub-data to generate second sub-parity data, and a data scrambler that performs a data scrambling operation with respect to the first sub-data, the second sub-data, the first sub-parity data, and the second sub-parity data based on a structure of the memory cell array to generate the write data.

Claims (63)

1. A memory device comprising:

an error correction code (ECC) circuit configured to perform ECC encoding on input data to generate write data; and

a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells configured to store the write data, and

wherein the ECC circuit includes:

a data splitter configured to split the input data into first sub-data and second sub-data;

a first ECC encoder configured to perform ECC encoding on the first sub-data to generate first sub-parity data;

a second ECC encoder configured to perform ECC encoding on the second sub-data to generate second sub-parity data; and

a data scrambler configured to perform a data scrambling operation on the first sub-data, the second sub-data, the first sub-parity data, and the second sub-parity data based on a physical layout and/or electrical connections of circuits for the memory cell array to generate the write data.

2. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the memory cell array includes:

a first word line connected to the plurality of memory cells;

a plurality of bit lines respectively connected to the plurality of memory cells; and

a plurality of local sense amplifiers respectively connected to the plurality of bit lines and configured to operate in response to a plurality of column select signals.

3. The memory device of claim 2 , further comprising:

a global sense amplifier and a write driver connected to the plurality of local sense amplifiers through global input/output lines; and

an input/output circuit configured to transmit and receive data to and from an external device and to transmit and receive data to and from the global sense amplifier and write driver.

4. The memory device of claim 2 , wherein a first local sense amplifier among the plurality of local sense amplifiers operates in response to a first column select signal among the plurality of column select signals and is connected to first memory cells of the plurality of memory cells through first bit lines of the plurality of bit lines, and

wherein the first memory cells store a first 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first sub-data and a second 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second sub-data.

5. The memory device of claim 4 , wherein a second local sense amplifier among the plurality of local sense amplifiers operates in response to the first column select signal among the plurality of column select signals and is connected to second memory cells of the plurality of memory cells through second bit lines of the plurality of bit lines, and

wherein the second memory cells store a third 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first sub-data and a fourth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second sub-data.

6. The memory device of claim 5 , wherein a third local sense amplifier among the plurality of local sense amplifiers operates in response to a second column select signal among the plurality of column select signals and is connected to third memory cells of the plurality of memory cells through third bit lines of the plurality of bit lines, and

wherein the third memory cells store a fifth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first sub-data and a sixth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second sub-data.

7. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the ECC circuit further includes:

a data descrambler configured to perform a data descramble operation with respect to read data read from the plurality of memory cells, based on the physical layout and/or electrical connections of circuits for the memory cell array to generate third sub-data, third sub-parity data, fourth sub-data, and fourth sub-parity data;

a first ECC decoder configured to perform ECC decoding on the third sub-data and the third sub-parity data to generate first corrected sub-data;

a second ECC decoder configured to perform ECC decoding on the fourth sub-data and the fourth sub-parity data to generate second corrected sub-data; and

a data combiner configured to combine the first corrected sub-data and the second corrected sub-data to generate output data.

8. The memory device of claim 7 , wherein the first ECC encoder, the second ECC encoder, the first ECC decoder, and the second ECC decoder perform the ECC encoding and the ECC decoding, respectively, based on a single 2-bit-symbol error correction (S2EC) code.

9. The memory device of claim 8 , wherein the input data has a size of 14-bits, each of the first sub-data and the second sub-data has a size of 7-bits, each of the first sub-parity data and the second sub-parity data has a size of 5-bits, and the write data has a size of 24-bits.

10. The memory device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a perfect row hammer tracking (PRHT) logic circuit configured to store counting information, the counting information indicating a number of access counts with respect to a first word line connected to the plurality of memory cells.

11. The memory device of claim 10 , wherein the input data is the counting information.

12. A memory device comprising:

a plurality of memory cells connected to a first word line and respectively connected to a plurality of bit lines;

a first local sense amplifier connected to first bit lines of the plurality of bit lines and configured to operate in response to a first column select signal;

a second local sense amplifier connected to second bit lines of the plurality of bit lines and configured to operate in response to the first column select signal; and

an error correction code (ECC) circuit configured to split input data into first sub-data and second sub-data, to perform a first ECC encoding on the first sub-data to generate first data code, to perform a second ECC encoding on the second sub-data to generate a second data code, and to generate write data based on the first data code and the second data code,

wherein the write data is stored in the plurality of memory cells, and

wherein first memory cells connected to the first bit lines among the plurality of memory cells store a first 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first data code and a second 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second data code.

13. The memory device of claim 12 , wherein second memory cells connected to the second bit lines among the plurality of memory cells store a third 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first data code and a fourth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second data code.

14. The memory device of claim 13 , wherein the memory device further includes:

a third local sense amplifier connected to third bit lines among the plurality of bit lines and configured to operate in response to second column select signal, and

wherein third memory cells connected to the third bit lines among the plurality of memory cells store a fifth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the first data code and a sixth 2-bit symbol corresponding to the second data code.

15. The memory device of claim 12 , wherein the ECC circuit is further configured to:

split read data read from the plurality of memory cells into third data code and fourth data code;

perform first ECC decoding on the third data code to generate first corrected sub-data;

perform second ECC decoding on the fourth data code to generate second corrected sub-data; and

combine the first corrected sub-data and the second corrected sub-data to generate output data.

16. The memory device of claim 15 , wherein the first ECC encoding, the second ECC encoding, the first ECC decoding, and the second ECC decoding are performed based on a single 2-bit-symbol error correction (S2EC) code.

17. The memory device of claim 12 , wherein the input data includes counting information indicating the number of accesses with respect to the first word line.

18. A method of operating a memory device including a plurality of memory cells connected to a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of word lines, the method comprising:

dividing input data into first sub-data and second sub-data;

performing error correction code (ECC) encoding on the first sub-data and the second sub-data to generate first parity data and second parity data, respectively, the first data code including the first sub-data and the first parity data, and the second data code including the second sub-data and the second parity data;

performing a data scrambling operation on the first data code and the second data code to generate write data; and

storing the write data in the plurality of memory cells,

wherein the data scrambling operation includes:

scrambling the first data code to be stored through first bitlines among the plurality of bitlines, and scrambling the second data code to be stored through second bitlines among the plurality of bitlines, and

wherein first memory cells among the plurality of memory cells connected to the first bit lines store 2-bit symbols corresponding to the first data code and second memory cells among the plurality of memory cells connected to the second bit lines store 2-bit symbols corresponding to the second data code.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

reading read data from the plurality of memory cells;

dividing the read data into third data code and fourth data code;

generating a plurality of corrected sub-data by performing ECC decoding on each of the third data code and the fourth data code; and

generating output data by combining the plurality of corrected sub-data.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the ECC encoding and the ECC decoding are performed based on a single 2-bit-symbol error correction (S2EC) code.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 13, 2024
From: KANG, SEONGMUK; LEE, KYUNG-HO; LEE, MYUNGKYU; KIM, KI-HEUNG; SOHN, KYOMIN; LEE, KIJUN; CHO, SUNGHYE; HWANG, HYONGRYOL
To: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 066446/0325 →
Priority Claims (1)
KR 10-2023-0003726 · Jan 10, 2023 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240232012A1 · Jul 11, 2024
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