METHOD OF MANAGING BAD STORAGE REGION OF MEMORY DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE USING THE METHOD

• US 20130173954A1
• Filed: 12/13/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: WOO, Yeong-jae, LEE, Dong-gi, SONG, Dong-hyun, LEE, Jin-hyuk
• Application Number:
  US13/713,378
• Publication Number:
  US 20130173954A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/167 Error detection by comparing the memory output
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0253 Garbage collection, i.e. reclamation of unreferenced memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7204 Capacity control, e.g. partitioning, end-of-life degradation

Abstract

A method of managing a bad storage region of a memory device may include detecting a bad page of a selected data block that has failed in one of a program operation, a read operation, and an erase operation on the memory device; and performing a mapping process so that the detected bad page is excluded from a storage region to which data is to be programmed, wherein remaining pages of the selected data block excluding the bad page are allowed to be used as a storage region in a garbage collection operation.

Claims

1. A method of managing a bad storage region of a memory device, the method comprising:

detecting a bad page of a selected data block that has failed in one of a program operation, a read operation, and an erase operation on the memory device; and

performing a mapping process so that the detected bad page is excluded from a storage region to which data is to be programmed, wherein remaining pages of the selected data block excluding the bad page are allowed to be used as a storage region in a garbage collection operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the mapping process comprises:

registering the bad page in bad page list information and excluding pages registered in the bad page list information from a storage region to which data is to be stored.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if the bad page is detected in the program operation, the performing of the mapping process comprises:

;

registering storage region information regarding the bad page in bad page list information; and

allocating a physical address for a logical address corresponding to first data to be programmed into the bad page so the first data is programmed into a page not registered in the bad page list information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, if an empty page not registered in the bad page list information exists in the data block including the bad page, a physical address is allocated for the logical address so the first data is programmed into one of empty pages of the data block, and, when no empty pages exist in the data block including the bad page, a physical address is allocated for the logical address so that the first data is programmed into one of pages included in a new free block.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein information of the storage region is represented by a physical page number.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining the memory device to be bad when a number of bad pages registered in the bad page list information exceeds a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein, when all of pages included in the selected data block to which data is to be programmed are detected as bad pages in the program operation, mapping is performed so that the selected data block is replaced with a new free block.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein, when all of pages included in the selected data block to which data is to be programmed are detected as bad pages in the program operation, mapping is performed so that the selected data block is replaced with a reserved block.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein if the bad page is detected in the read operation, the performing of the mapping process comprises:

registering storage region information regarding the bad page into bad page list information; and

performing a mapping process so that the bad page is not reused as part of the storage region in the garbage collection operation.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining the memory device to be bad when the number of bad pages registered in the bad page list information exceeds a threshold value.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, when all of pages included in the selected data block from which data is to be read are detected as bad pages in the read operation, mapping is performed so that the selected data block from which data is to be read is replaced with a reserved block.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein, when all of pages included in the selected data block from which data is to be read are detected as bad pages in the read operation, mapping is performed so that the selected data block from which data is to be read is replaced with a new free block.

13. A storage device comprising:

a memory device configured to store data; and

a memory controller configured to perform mapping so that a bad page of a selected data block for which a program fail, a read fail, or an erase fail occurred in the memory device is excluded from a storage region to which data is to be programmed, and so that remaining pages of the selected data block excluding the bad page are reused as the storage region in a garbage collection operation.

14. The storage device of claim 13, wherein the memory device comprises:

an array of memory cells which includes a plurality of pages;

a page buffer circuit configured to program the memory cells or read data from the memory cells;

a verifying circuit configured to perform program verification or erase verification on the memory cells in response to program data received from the page buffer circuit; and

a control circuit configured to control a program operation or an erase operation based on a result of the program verification or a result of the erase verification.

15. The storage device of claim 13, wherein the memory controller comprises:

a volatile memory unit configured to temporarily store mapping table information and bad page list information; and

a control unit configured to perform mapping such that the bad page for which a program fail, a read fail, or an erase fail occurred in the memory device is registered in a bad page list information, pages registered in the bad page list information are excluded from pages which are to be mapped to logical addresses designated by a program command, and pages not registered in the bad page list information are reused as the storage region in a garbage collection operation.

16. A method of managing a memory device, the method comprising:

identifying one or more bad pages for which a failed memory access operation occurred in the memory device from among a plurality of pages of a data block;

allocating space within the data block by designating only data pages, from among the plurality of data pages, which have not been identified as one of the one or more bad pages as free pages available to store data.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

storing an indication of the one or more bad pages in a bad page list.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the allocating includes, during a garbage collection operation, checking the bad page list, and designating only pages, from among the plurality of pages, which are not included on the bad page list as free pages available for storing data.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

mapping one or more logical addresses of first data to be stored in the data block only to one or more physical addresses corresponding to pages, from among the plurality of pages, which are not included on the bad page list.