Apparatus and methods for sensing hard bit and soft bits
A method is provided for reading a memory cell of a nonvolatile memory system. The method includes generating a hard bit and N soft bits for the memory cell in a total time corresponding to a single read latency period and N+1 data transfer times.
1. A method for reading a memory cell of a nonvolatile memory system, the method comprising:
generating a hard bit and N soft bits for the memory cell in a total time corresponding to a single read latency period and N+1 data transfer times;
generating a reference signal that comprises 2N+1 distinct reference signal values;
coupling the memory cell to a first input of a comparator; and
coupling the reference signal to a second input of the comparator,
wherein generating a hard bit and N soft bits comprises obtaining 2N+1 samples of an output of the comparator.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference signal comprises a step function that includes 2N+1 step values.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference signal comprises a ramp function.