Device and method for defect handling in semi-conductor memory
First Claim
1. A method for handling defects of memory cells in a solid-state memory array comprising the steps of:
- assigning an address to each memory cell according to a prescribed order;
detecting a first set of defects of the memory array and determining the address and type of each defect in the first set, said first set being detected prior to accessing of the memory;
storing in the memory array the first set of defects, each defect being labeled by the address and type thereof and arranged by address according to the prescribed order; and
skipping over the defects while accessing the memory array by referencing the ordered first list such that a number of memory cells appropriate to the defect type are skipped over.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A solid-state memory array such as an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEprom) or Flash EEprom array is used to store sequential data in a prescribed order. The memory includes a first information list containing addresses and defect types of previously detected defects. The defects are listed in the same prescribed order as that of the data. Only a simple controller is required to reference the information list so that writing or reading of the data will skip over the defective locations in the memory. New defects may be detected during writing by failure in verification, and those new defects will also be skipped. The memory also includes a second information list maintained by the controller. As data is written to the memory, addresses of file-markers and defects detected by write failure are entered into the list in the same prescribed order. This second list is referenced with the first list by the controller in subsequent reading to skip over both the previously and the newly detected defects.
575 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for handling defects of memory cells in a solid-state memory array comprising the steps of:
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assigning an address to each memory cell according to a prescribed order; detecting a first set of defects of the memory array and determining the address and type of each defect in the first set, said first set being detected prior to accessing of the memory; storing in the memory array the first set of defects, each defect being labeled by the address and type thereof and arranged by address according to the prescribed order; and skipping over the defects while accessing the memory array by referencing the ordered first list such that a number of memory cells appropriate to the defect type are skipped over. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A solid-state memory system for storing sequential data, comprising:
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a memory array formed by a plurality of memory cells; a data portion of the memory array usable for storing data files, said data portion having memory cells that are accessible in a prescribed order; a first information list in the memory array, said first information list including an ordered directory of previously detected defects of the data portion, each defect being a cluster of one or more defective memory cells classifiable by defect type, and said ordered directory listing each defect'"'"'s location and type according to the prescribed order of the memory cells in the data portion; a controller connected to the memory array for controlling access operations thereof, said controller accessing the memory cells in the data portion in the prescribed order while responsive sequentially to the first information list for skipping over a number of defective memory cells appropriate for its defect type at each defect'"'"'s location. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification