Variable current sinking for coarse/fine programming of non-volatile memory
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for programming, comprising:
- a non-volatile storage element having a gate and two control terminals; and
a switchable current sinking device in communication with one of said control terminals, said switchable current sinking device provides a coarse current sink to said one of said control terminals if said non-volatile storage element is in a coarse programming mode and provides a fine current sink to said one of said control terminals if said non-volatile storage element is in a fine programming mode, said switchable current sinking device includes a first current sink unit that provides said coarse current sink, a second current sink unit that provides said fine current sink, and a switch for selecting either said first current sink unit or said second current sink unit.
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Abstract
A non-volatile memory device is programmed by first performing a coarse programming process and subsequently performing a fine programming process. The coarse/fine programming methodology is enhanced by using an efficient verification scheme that allows some non-volatile memory cells to be verified for the coarse programming process while other non-volatile memory cells are verified for the fine programming process. The fine programming process can be accomplished using current sinking, charge packet metering or other suitable means.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. An apparatus for programming, comprising:
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a non-volatile storage element having a gate and two control terminals; and a switchable current sinking device in communication with one of said control terminals, said switchable current sinking device provides a coarse current sink to said one of said control terminals if said non-volatile storage element is in a coarse programming mode and provides a fine current sink to said one of said control terminals if said non-volatile storage element is in a fine programming mode, said switchable current sinking device includes a first current sink unit that provides said coarse current sink, a second current sink unit that provides said fine current sink, and a switch for selecting either said first current sink unit or said second current sink unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for programming a non-volatile storage element, comprising:
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a sense circuit in communication with said non-volatile storage element; a programming mode indication circuit providing an output indicating whether said non-volatile storage element is in a coarse programming mode or a fine programming mode based on said sense circuit; and a switchable current sinking device in communication with said programming mode indication circuit and said non-volatile storage element, said switchable current sinking device provides a coarse current sink to said non-volatile storage element if said non-volatile storage element is in said coarse programming mode and provides a fine current sink to said non-volatile storage element if said non-volatile storage element is in said fine programming mode. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for programming non-volatile storage elements, comprising:
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a programming circuit in communication with said non-volatile storage elements; and one or more switchable current sink circuits in communication with said non-volatile storage elements, said one or more switchable current sink circuits cause a first subset of said non-volatile storage elements in a coarse programming phase to be subjected to a first current sink while concurrently a second subset of said non-volatile storage elements in a fine programming phase are subjected to a second current sink. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for programming, comprising:
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performing a coarse programming phase for a non-volatile storage element, said coarse programming phase includes sinking a first current; and switching to a fine programming phase for said non-volatile storage element by switching said sinking to a second current, wherein change in a threshold voltage of said non-volatile storage element is decreased during said fine programming phase in comparison to said coarse programming phase. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for programming, comprising:
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performing a coarse programming phase for multi-state non-volatile storage elements, said coarse programming phase includes sinking a first set of currents such that non-volatile storage elements being programmed to different states sink different currents of said first set of currents; and switching to a fine programming phase for said non-volatile storage elements by switching said sinking to a second set of currents such that non-volatile storage elements being programmed to different states sink different currents of said second set of currents.
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35. An apparatus for programming, comprising:
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a multi-state non-volatile storage element having a gate and two control terminals; and a switchable current sinking device in communication with one of said control terminals, said switchable current sinking device provides a coarse current sink to said one of said control terminals if said multi-state non-volatile storage element is in a coarse programming mode and provides a fine current sink to said one of said control terminals if said multi-state non-volatile storage element is in a fine programming mode, said switchable current sinking device provides different coarse current sinks to said one of said control terminals for different states and provides different fine current sinks to said one of said control terminals for different states.
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Specification