Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080239805 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY AND DATA READING METHOD - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory according to the present invention includes a memory cell array including a plurality of electrically writable memory cells; a plurality of word lines and a plurality of bit lines connected to the plurality of memory cells; and a data reading and programming control section for, when performing 4-value data programming, read or erasure with respect to at least one of the plurality of memory cells, selecting and applying a voltage to a corresponding word line and a corresponding bit line among the plurality of word lines and the plurality of bit lines; wherein the data reading and programming control section includes an adjacent memory cell data reading section for reading, at a reading voltage of a predetermined reading voltage level, whether or not data is programmed in a lower page of a second memory cell adjacent to a first memory cell in the memory cell array, and generating adjacent memory cell state data which represents a data state of the second memory cell; an adjacent memory cell data memory section for storing the adjacent memory cell state data generated by the adjacent memory cell data reading section; a reading voltage level control section for defining a plurality of predetermined reading voltage verify levels for reading data from the first memory cell based on the adjacent memory cell state data; a data reading section for reading the data from the first memory cell at a plurality of reading voltages corresponding to the plurality of predetermined reading voltage verify levels; and a data determining section for determining which data of 4-value data is programmed in the first memory cell based on the data which is read by the data reading section. | 10-02-2008 |
20090080261 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory, has a first wire; a second wire adjacent to the first wire; a third wire disposed next to the second wire such that the second wire is disposed between the first wire and the third wire; a power supply circuit for setting each of the wires at a predetermined potential; and a determining circuit for determining presence or absence of a short circuit between the wires. | 03-26-2009 |
20090154244 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a memory cell array including a plurality of word lines; a parameter storage part which stores a parameter related to a programming voltage which is applied to a word line for programming data; a word line selection circuit which selects a word line among the plurality of word lines which is connected to a memory cell to be programmed with data; a voltage application circuit which applies a programming voltage to the selected word line according to the parameter; a verify circuit which performs verification of programmed data; a control part which outputs a signal for selecting a word line and repeats the operations of the voltage application circuit until the verification is successful; a calculation circuit which calculates an average value of the number of times the control part repeats the operations of the voltage application circuit per each word line; and a parameter setting circuit which sets the parameter using the average value calculated. | 06-18-2009 |
20090292863 | MEMORY SYSTEM WITH A SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A memory system with a semiconductor memory device, in which a physical block of n-bits serves as an erase unit, wherein the address management of the memory device is performed by a logical block with m-bits, “m” being larger than “n” and expressed by a power of two, and wherein a n-bit portion continued from the head address in the logical block is defined as a first management unit corresponding to one physical block of the memory device, and a number of the remaining fraction portions each defined as a second management unit are gathered so as to correspond to one physical block of the memory device. | 11-26-2009 |
20100080056 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY SYSTEM - A semiconductor memory system includes: a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells arranged therein, the plurality of memory cells capable of storing N bits of information in each memory cell (where N is a natural number more than 3, other than a power of two); a control circuit configured to control read, write, and erase operations on the memory cell array; and an ECC circuit configured to correct data read from the memory cell array, based on redundant data. The memory cells that share one of word lines and can be written or read at a time are configured to store multiple pages of data therein. A total amount of data stored in the multiple pages is set to a power-of-two number of bits, and the redundant data is stored in a residual portion of the multiple pages. | 04-01-2010 |
20100124110 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - A semiconductor storage device comprises: a sense amplifier circuit; a first data retaining circuit and a second data retaining circuit configured to retain data and threshold voltage information, the second data retaining circuit output the data and the threshold voltage information to the outside; and a control circuit configured to control operation. The sense amplifier circuit is configured to perform a data-read operation and a threshold-voltage-information read operation at the same time. The control circuit is configured to control read operations so that either one of the data or the threshold voltage information for which a read operation is finished earlier is output from the second data retaining circuit, and the other one of the data or the threshold voltage information for which a read operation is not finished yet is read from a memory cell array and retained in the first data retaining circuit. | 05-20-2010 |
20100149867 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a nonvolatile memory which includes a block having a plurality of memory cell groups, each of the memory cell groups being electrically connected to a plurality of bit lines and electrically connected to a common word line, each memory cell being recordable of a plurality of bits, a first register which stores information obtained by correcting first data to be written to a first word line, and a control circuit which sets a set potential in the first register and writes the bits to a write target first memory cell at a time using the information in the first register, the set potential being obtained by subtracting, from a target potential to be finally set in the first memory cell, a potential increase which is generated by setting a potential in an unwritten second memory cell adjacent to the first memory cell. | 06-17-2010 |
20100208519 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE AND METHOD OF READING THE SAME - First and second data retaining circuits retain data read from memory cell and threshold voltage information indicating where in one of plural threshold voltage distributions threshold voltage of memory cell is located. Calculation device executes calculations among data retained in first and second data retaining circuit and data read by sense amplifier. | 08-19-2010 |
20110044103 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises: a memory cell array configured by a plurality of first and second lines and a plurality of memory cells, each of the memory cells being selected by the first and second lines and being configured to store multiple-bit data in a nonvolatile manner; a data bus configured to transmit write data to be written to the plurality of memory cells, the write data being configured by a plurality of unit data; a column selection unit configured by a plurality of data latches, each of the data latches being configured to directly receive the unit data inputted from the data bus and to retain the unit data; and a control unit configured to control activation/non-activation of the data latches. During a programming operation, for each unit data inputted to the column selection unit, the control unit activates one of the data latches corresponding to a certain one of the memory cells where the unit data is to be stored. | 02-24-2011 |
20110044106 | NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY AND DATA READING METHOD - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory that includes a memory cell array including a plurality of electrically writable memory cells; a plurality of word lines and a plurality of bit lines connected to the plurality of memory cells; and a data reading and programming control section. The data reading and programming control section includes: an adjacent memory cell data reading section; an adjacent memory cell data memory section; a reading voltage level control section; a data reading section for reading the data from a first memory cell at a plurality of reading voltages corresponding to a plurality of predetermined reading voltage verify levels controlled using the reading voltage level control section; and a data determining section for determining which data of 4-value data is programmed in the first memory cell based on the data which is read by the data reading section. | 02-24-2011 |
20110205801 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - In writing operation, charge pumps of a memory apply any of first to n-th voltages which are different from each other. An application-voltage selector selects voltages to be applied to WLs among the first to n-th voltages. A word-line number register stores the number of WLs to which each of the first to n-th voltages is to be applied for the first to n-th voltages. A storage stores a correspondence table that stores a relationship between the number of WLs for each of the first to n-th voltages and the number of charge pumps allocated to the first to n-th voltages. A generation-voltage selector allocates charge pumps to generate the first to n-th voltages based on the correspondence table according to the number of WLs for each of the first to n-th voltages. Each charge pump generates any of the first to n-th voltages allocated by the generation-voltage selector. | 08-25-2011 |
20110228615 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes unit structures. Each unit structure includes bit lines, memory cells, sense amplifiers, a first data line, a computing circuit, a second data line, and data latches. The bit lines are connected to memory cells. The sense amplifiers are connected to respective bit lines adjacent to each other. The first data line is commonly connected to the sense amplifiers. The computing circuit is connected to the first data line. The second data line is connected to the computing circuit. The data latches are connected to the second data line. The unit structures are independent from one another. At least one of the unit structures is a spare unit structure. One of the unit structures is configured to be replaceable with the spare unit structure. | 09-22-2011 |
20120063234 | MEMORY SYSTEM HAVING NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORIES - According to one embodiment, a memory system includes a first nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a second nonvolatile semiconductor memory and a controller. The first memory has memory cells and executes a first operation that is at least one of write, read, and erase operations with respect to the memory cells. The first operation includes a first sub-operation and a second-sub operation that consume a current which is equal to or higher than a predetermined current. The second memory has memory cells and executes a second operation that is at least one of write, read, and erase operations with respect to the memory cells. The second operation includes a third sub-operation and a fourth sub-operation that consume a current which is equal to or higher than the predetermined current. The controller controls the first operation and the second operation of the first memory and the second memory. | 03-15-2012 |