Granted Patent B2

US 12,613,774 · App. 18/743,994 · Granted Apr 28, 2026

Inventors: Sujeet Ayyapureddi (Boise, ID); Scott E. Smith (Boise, ID)

Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.

G06F11/1068G06F11/1016G06F11/1048G06F11/1435G06F16/38

Abstract

Claims (48)

1 . A method comprising:

reading a plurality of metadata bits from a memory array;

reading a plurality of data bits and a plurality of parity bits from the memory array;

combining the plurality of data bits and the plurality of metadata bits into a shared codeword;

determining errors in the shared codeword based on the plurality of parity bits;

generating a modified shared codeword by modifying the plurality of data bits based on write data bits and modifying the plurality of metadata bits based on write metadata bits;

generating an updated plurality of parity bits based on the modified shared codeword;

writing the modified plurality of data bits and the updated plurality of parity bits to the memory array; and

writing the modified plurality of metadata bits to the memory array.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting half of the bits in the plurality of data bits in the shared codeword and modifying the selected half by overwriting them with the write bits.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reading the plurality of metadata bits as a first read access;

storing the plurality of metadata bits in a latch; and

reading the plurality of data bits data and the plurality of parity bits as part of a second read access.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

storing the modified plurality of metadata bits in the latch;

writing the modified plurality of data bits and the updated plurality of parity bits as part of a first write access; and

writing the modified plurality of metadata as part of a second write access.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a first portion or a second portion of a plurality of column planes of the memory array based on a column plane select bit of a column address; and

reading the plurality of parity bits from the selected one of the first portion or the second portion.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a column select signal to a select one of a plurality of column planes and reading the plurality of metadata bits from the select one of the plurality of column planes; and

providing a column select signal to each of the plurality of column planes and reading the plurality of data bits from the plurality of column planes.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying a portion of the plurality of metadata bits by overwriting the portion with the write metadata.

8 . An apparatus comprising:

at least one data terminal configured to receive write data and write metadata as part of a write operation;

a memory array;

an error correction code (ECC) circuit; and

a shared codeword logic circuit configured combine a plurality of data bits and plurality of metadata bits from the memory array to generate a shared codeword, wherein the ECC circuit is configured to determine errors in the shared codeword based on a plurality of parity bits from the memory array to generate a corrected shared codeword, and wherein the shared codeword logic circuit is further configured to modify the corrected shared codeword based on the write data and the write metadata to generate a modified shared codeword, wherein the modified shared codeword is written to the memory array.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the ECC circuit is configured to generate updated parity bits based on the modified shared codeword, and wherein the updated parity bits are written to the memory array.

10 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the shared codeword logic circuit is configured to overwrite a selected portion of the data bits in the corrected shared codeword with the write data as part of generating the modified shared codeword.

11 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the shared codeword logic circuit is configured to overwrite the metadata bits in the corrected shared codeword with the write metadata as part of generating the modified shared codeword.

12 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the shared codeword logic circuit is configured to overwrite a selected portion of the metadata bits in the corrected shared codeword with the write metadata as part of generating the modified shared codeword.

13 . The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a column decoder configured to provide a read signal and a first column select signal to read the plurality of metadata as part of a first read access and configured to provide the read signal and a second column select signal to read the plurality of data bits as part of a second read access.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the column decoder is further configured to provide a write signal and the second column select signal to write a modified plurality of data bits from the modified shared codeword as part of a first write pass and configured to provide the write signal and the first column select signal to write a modified plurality of metadata bits from the modified shared codeword as part of a second write access.

15 . An apparatus comprising:

a memory array comprising a plurality of data column planes and an extra column plane;

an error correction code (ECC) circuit; and

a column decoder, wherein responsive to a write operation the column decoder is configured to provide a first column select signal and a first read command to a selected one of the plurality of data column planes, provide a second column select signal and a second read command to each of the plurality of data column planes, provide the second column select signal and a first write command to each of the plurality of data column planes and provide the first column select signal and a second write command to the selected one of the plurality of data column planes, and

wherein responsive to the first and the second read command the ECC circuit is configured to receive a shared codeword comprising data and metadata from the memory array and correct the shared codeword based on parity bits from the memory array and wherein responsive to the first and the second write command a modified shared codeword based on the corrected shared codeword is written to the memory array.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a shared codeword logic circuit configured to receive the data and the metadata responsive to the first and the second read command and configured to combine the data and the metadata from the array to generate the shared codeword.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the shared codeword logic is further configured to modify the corrected shared codeword with the write data and the write metadata,

wherein the ECC circuit is configured to generate updated parity based on the modified shared codeword, and

wherein the updated parity is written to the memory array responsive to the first write command.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising a latch circuit configured to store the metadata while the column decoder is providing the second read command and configured to store modified metadata from the modified shared codeword while the column decoder is providing the first write command.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein responsive to a read operation the column decoder is configured to provide a third read command and the first column select signal to the selected one of the plurality of data column planes and to provide a fourth read command and the second column select signal to the plurality of data column planes.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the column decoder is further configured to provide the second column select signal to the extra column plane, and wherein the extra column plane is configured to store the parity bits before the write operation and the updated parity bits after the write operation.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (243)