NON-VOLATILE MEMORY GENERATING READ RECLAIM SIGNAL AND MEMORY SYSTEM

• US 20100235713A1
• Filed: 11/16/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Jong-hwa, CHOI, Young-joon, LEE, Chul-ho
• Application Number:
  US12/618,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20100235713A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1072 in multilevel memories

Abstract

A non-volatile memory device includes a memory cell array including memory blocks, an ECC circuit receiving read data from the memory cell array and detecting error bits, wherein the ECC circuit is capable of detecting and correcting a maximum number of error bits, a counter counting detected error bits and generating an error-possible data indication when the counted error bits exceed a minimum error threshold, wherein the minimum error threshold is less than the maximum number of error bits, and a read reclaim indicator receiving the error-possible data indication and generating read reclaim indication for the memory block storing the read data.

Claims

1. A non-volatile memory device comprising:

a memory cell array of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in a plurality of memory blocks;

an error detection and correction (ECC) circuit configured to receive read data from the memory cell array and detect a number of error bits in the read data, wherein the ECC circuit is capable of detecting and correcting a maximum number of error bits;

a counter configured to count a number of detected error bits in the read data and generate an error-possible data indication when a number of counted error bits exceeds a minimum error threshold, wherein the minimum error threshold is less than the maximum number of error bits; and

a read reclaim indicator configured to receive the error-possible data indication and generate read reclaim indication for one of the plurality of memory blocks storing the read data.

2. The non-volatile memory device of claim 1, further comprising a peripheral circuit configured to obtain the read data from the memory cell array and provide the read data to the ECC circuit.

3. The non-volatile memory device of claim 1, wherein the ECC circuit, the counter and the read reclaim indicator are collectively implemented in a control unit separate from the memory cell array.

4. The non-volatile memory device of claim 1, wherein the read reclaim indicator is further configured to generate an error-present indication when the number of counted error bits exceeds the maximum number of error bits.

5. The non-volatile memory device of claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory cells are multi-level memory cells capable of storing at least two bits of data per memory cell.

6. The non-volatile memory device of claim 5, wherein the minimum error threshold within the counter may be set to a value in accordance with characteristics of the multi-level memory cells.

7. The non-volatile memory device of claim 1, wherein the read data is one page of data in one of the plurality of memory blocks.

8. A system comprising:

a host controlling operation of a nonvolatile memory device, wherein the nonvolatile memory device comprises;

a memory cell array of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in a plurality of memory blocks;

an error detection and correction (ECC) circuit configured to receive read data from the memory cell array and detect a number of error bits in the read data, wherein the ECC circuit is capable of detecting and correcting a maximum number of error bits;

a counter configured to count a number of detected error bits in the read data and generate an error-possible data indication when a number of counted error bits exceeds a minimum error threshold, wherein the minimum error threshold is less than the maximum number of error bits; and

a read reclaim indicator configured to receive the error-possible data indication and provide a read reclaim indication to the host for one of the plurality of memory blocks storing the read data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the read reclaim indication is provided to the host during a wear leveling operation controlled by the host.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein upon receiving the read reclaim indication the host reassigns a logical address previously assigned to the one of the plurality of memory blocks storing the read data.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the nonvolatile memory device further comprises a peripheral circuit configured to obtain the read data from the memory cell array and provide the read data to the ECC circuit.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the ECC circuit, the counter and the read reclaim indicator are collectively implemented in a control unit separate from the memory cell array within the nonvolatile memory device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the read reclaim indicator is further configured to generate an error-present indication to the host when the number of counted error bits exceeds the maximum number of error bits.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein upon receiving the error-present indication the host designates the one of the plurality of memory blocks storing the read data as an non-useable memory block.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the nonvolatile memory cells are multi-level memory cells capable of storing at least two bits of data per memory cell.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the minimum error threshold within the counter may be set to a value in accordance with characteristics of the multi-level memory cells.