Methods and apparatus for extending the effective thermal operating range of a memory

1. Apparatus comprising:

a thermal sensor on a memory integrated circuit (“IC”);

a heating element coupled to the thermal sensor and adapted to heat the memory IC in response to a signal from the thermal sensor; and

a circuit adapted to enable the apparatus only on detection of an error condition on the memory IC, or when the memory IC is used with a line power supply.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermal sensor includes a current output temperature sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermal sensor includes at least one of a voltage output sensor, a Brokaw cell, a bi-polar junction transistor-based temperature sensor, a thermocouple, a resistance temperature device, and a thermistor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermal sensor is integrated in the memory IC.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermal sensor includes a plurality of thermal sensors distributed on the memory IC.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heating element includes a resistive heating element.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heating element is integrated in the memory IC.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heating element includes a plurality of heating elements distributed on the memory IC.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a circuit coupled to the heating element and the thermal sensor and adapted to allow a temperature value to be selected as a threshold below which the heating element is activated.

10. A system comprising:

a non-volatile memory array on an integrated circuit (“IC”);

a thermal regulation circuit integrated on the IC, wherein the thermal regulation circuit is adapted to maintain the memory array at a predefined threshold temperature; and

a circuit adapted to enable the apparatus only on detection of an error condition on the memory IC, or when the memory IC is used with a line power supply.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the non-volatile memory array includes a three dimensional memory array.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the thermal regulation circuit is disposed on multiple planes of the three dimensional memory array.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the thermal regulation circuit includes a thermal sensor and a heating element coupled to the thermal sensor.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the non-volatile memory array includes a three dimensional memory array, and the thermal sensor and the heating element are disposed on different planes of the three dimensional memory array.

15. Apparatus for thermal regulation of a non-volatile three dimensional memory IC, the apparatus comprising:

a current output temperature sensor integrated into a non-volatile three dimensional memory IC;

a resistive heating element coupled to the current output temperature sensor and adapted to heat the memory IC in response to a signal from the current output temperature sensor indicating that the memory IC is at a temperature below a desired threshold temperature; and

a circuit adapted to enable the apparatus only on detection of an error condition on the memory IC, or when the memory IC is used with a line power supply.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the current output temperature sensor includes a plurality of current output temperature sensors distributed on the three dimensional memory IC.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the current output temperature sensor is disposed on multiple planes of the three dimensional memory array.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the resistive heating element includes a plurality of resistive heating elements distributed on the three dimensional memory IC.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the resistive heating element is disposed on multiple planes of the three dimensional memory array.