Adaptive estimation of memory cell read thresholds

• US 8,369,141 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sommer, Naftali, Shalvi, Ofir, Perlmutter, Uri, Golov, Oren, Gurgi, Eyal, Anholt, Micha, Sokolov, Dotan
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, TOAN K
• Application Number:
  US12/522,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20100091535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,792 Days
• Field of Search: 365/185.03, 365/185.24, 365/45, 711/103, 711/E12.008
• US Class Current: 365/185.03
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/5642 Sensing or reading circuits; Data output circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/04 using variable threshold transistors, e.g. FAMOS
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/20 Initialising; Data preset; Chip identification
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/28 using differential sensing or reference cells, e.g. dummy cells
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2211/5634 Reference cells
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 8/20 Address safety or protection circuits, i.e. arrangements for preventing unauthorized or accidental access

Abstract

A method for operating a memory (28) that includes a plurality of analog memory cells (32) includes storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells. Second storage values are read from the cells, and a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values is estimated. The estimated CDF is processed so as to compute one or more thresholds. A memory access operation is performed on the cells using the one or more thresholds.

Claims

1. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein processing the estimated CDF comprises defining a model that produces a target CDF responsively to input parameters, adapting the model by fitting the target CDF to the estimated CDF, and computing the thresholds based on the adapted model.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating the CDF comprises computing one or more CDF data points, such that a CDF data point that corresponds to a given storage value is indicative of one of:

a number of the second storage values that do not exceed the given storage value; and

a number of the second storage values that exceed the given storage value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, and wherein the input parameters comprise at least one parameter selected from a group of parameters consisting of:

a widening factor of a distribution of a subset of the second storage values associated with one of the programming states;

a variance of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states;

a relative shift of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states; and

a mean of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein defining the model comprises predefining a plurality of target CDFs, and wherein fitting the target CDF to the estimated CDF comprises selecting a predefined target CDF from the plurality responsively to the estimated CDF.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values that are associated with a given programming state are distributed in accordance with a known function of a subset of the input parameters, and wherein adapting the model comprises estimating the subset of the input parameters irrespective of programming states other than the given programming state.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the model is defined based on a first distribution of the memory cells among the programming states, wherein the CDF is estimated based on a second distribution of the memory cells among the programming states that is different from the first distribution, and wherein adapting the model comprises correcting an error in the target CDF caused by a difference between the first and second distributions.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein storing the data comprises storing information regarding the first distribution in the memory, and wherein correcting the error comprises retrieving the stored information and correcting the error responsively to the retrieved information.

8. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values corresponding to each of the programming states are distributed in accordance with respective distributions, and wherein estimating the CDF comprises scaling the distributions in accordance with numbers of the second storage values that correspond to the respective programming states, and estimating the CDF responsively to the scaled distributions.

9. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein processing the estimated CDF comprises identifying a flat region in the estimated CDF and positioning at least one of the thresholds within the flat region.

10. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the CDF has a known shape within at least a partial range of the second storage values, wherein the estimated CDF has a shift with respect to the CDF, and wherein processing the estimated CDF comprises calculating the shift and computing the thresholds responsively to the calculated shift.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein estimating the CDF comprises measuring one or more values of the CDF in respective one or more of the second storage values that are located in the partial range of the second storage values, and determining the shift based on the measured values of the CDF.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein computing the thresholds comprises shifting the thresholds with the calculated shift.

13. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values fall in a set of storage value ranges that correspond to the programming states, and wherein estimating the CDF comprises measuring at least one value of the CDF within the storage value ranges.

14. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein reading the second storage values comprises reading the second storage values from a first group of the memory cells, and wherein performing the memory access operation comprises performing the memory access operation on a second group of the memory cells, different from the first group, using the one or more thresholds.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the data stored in the first and second groups have first and second data value distributions that are different from one another, and comprising adjusting the thresholds to match the second data value distribution.

16. The method according to claim 14, and comprising determining a dependence of optimal threshold positions in the second group on the optimal threshold positions in the first group, and adjusting the thresholds for performing the memory access operation in the second group in accordance with the dependence.

17. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the one or more thresholds comprise read thresholds, and wherein performing the memory access operation comprises reading third storage values from the cells using the read thresholds, so as to reconstruct the stored data.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein storing the data comprises encoding the data with an Error Correction Code (ECC), wherein reading the third storage values comprises decoding the ECC and determining errors that were corrected by the ECC, and comprising adjusting the read thresholds responsively to the corrected errors.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein, for a given read threshold, determining the corrected errors comprises determining a first number of the errors caused by the third storage values falling below the given read threshold and a second number of the errors caused by the third storage values falling above the given read threshold, and wherein adjusting the read thresholds comprises adjusting the given read threshold responsively to the first and second numbers.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein reading the third storage values further comprises canceling a distortion in one or more of the third storage values.

21. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the thresholds comprise verification thresholds, and wherein performing the memory access operation comprises verifying the first storage values written to the cells using the verification thresholds.

22. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein storing the data comprises encoding the data with an Error Correction Code (ECC), wherein the one or more thresholds comprise multiple sets of read thresholds, and wherein performing the memory access operation comprises reading multiple sets of third storage values from the cells using the respective multiple sets of the read thresholds, computing soft decoding metrics responsively to the multiple sets of the third storage values, and decoding the ECC using the soft decoding metrics, so as to reconstruct the data.

23. A method for operating a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells, comprising:

storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells;

reading second storage values from the cells and estimating a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values;

processing the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds; and

performing a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein each of the memory cells stores multiple data bits, wherein storing the data comprises storing multiple memory pages in the respective multiple data bits of the memory cells, and wherein performing the memory access operation comprises reading each of the memory pages using a subset of the thresholds.

24. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the processor is coupled to define a model that produces a target CDF responsively to input parameters, to adapt the model by fitting the target CDF to the estimated CDF, and to compute the thresholds based on the adapted model.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the processor is coupled to estimate the CDF by computing one or more CDF data points, such that a CDF data point that corresponds to a given storage value is indicative of one of:

a number of the second storage values that do not exceed the given storage value; and

a number of the second storage values that exceed the given storage value.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the processor is coupled to select the first storage values from a set of nominal values so as to program the cells to assume respective programming states, and wherein the input parameters comprise at least one parameter selected from a group of parameters consisting of:

a widening factor of a distribution of a subset of the second storage values associated with one of the programming states;

a variance of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states;

a relative shift of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states; and

a mean of the distribution of the subset of the second storage values associated with the one of the programming states.

27. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the processor is coupled to predefine a plurality of target CDFs, and to select a predefined target CDF from the plurality responsively to the estimated CDF.

28. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values that are associated with a given programming state are distributed in accordance with a known function of a subset of the input parameters, and wherein the processor is coupled to adapt the model by estimating the subset of the input parameters irrespective of programming states other than the given programming state.

29. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the processor is coupled to select the first storage values from a set of nominal values so as to program the cells to assume respective programming states, to define the model based on a first distribution of the memory cells among the programming states, to estimate the CDF based on a second distribution of the memory cells among the programming states that is different from the first distribution, and to correct an error in the target CDF caused by a difference between the first and second distributions.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the processor is coupled to store information regarding the first distribution in the memory, to retrieve the stored information and to correct the error responsively to the retrieved information.

31. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values corresponding to each of the programming states are distributed in accordance with respective distributions, and wherein the processor is coupled to scale the distributions in accordance with numbers of the second storage values that correspond to the respective programming states, and to estimate the CDF responsively to the scaled distributions.

32. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the processor is coupled to identify a flat region in the estimated CDF and to position at least one of the thresholds within the flat region.

33. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the CDF has a known shape within at least a partial range of the second storage values, wherein the estimated CDF has a shift with respect to the CDF, and wherein the processor is coupled to calculate the shift and to compute the thresholds responsively to the calculated shift.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the processor is coupled to measure one or more values of the CDF in respective one or more of the second storage values that are located in the partial range of the second storage values, and to determine the shift based on the measured values of the CDF.

35. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the processor is coupled to shift the thresholds with the calculated shift.

36. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the first storage values are selected from a set of nominal values that program the cells to assume respective programming states, wherein the second storage values fall in a set of storage value ranges that correspond to the programming states, and wherein the processor is coupled to estimate at least one value of the CDF within the storage value ranges.

37. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the processor is coupled to read the second storage values from a first group of the memory cells, and to perform the memory access operation on a second group of the memory cells, different from the first group, using the one or more thresholds.

38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the data stored in the first and second groups have first and second data value distributions that are different from one another, and wherein the processor is coupled to adjust the thresholds to match the second data value distribution.

39. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the processor is coupled to determine a dependence of optimal threshold positions in the second group on the optimal threshold positions in the first group, and to adjust the thresholds for performing the memory access operation in the second group in accordance with the dependence.

40. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the one or more thresholds comprise read thresholds, and wherein the processor is coupled to read third storage values from the cells using the read thresholds, so as to reconstruct the stored data.

41. The apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the processor is coupled to encode the data with an Error Correction Code (ECC), to decode the ECC when reconstructing the data, to determine errors that were corrected by the ECC, and to adjust the read thresholds responsively to the corrected errors.

42. The apparatus according to claim 41, wherein, for a given read threshold, the processor is coupled to determine a first number of the errors caused by the third storage values falling below the given read threshold and a second number of the errors caused by the third storage values falling above the given read threshold, and to adjust the given read threshold responsively to the first and second numbers.

43. The apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the processor is coupled to cancel a distortion in one or more of the read third storage values.

44. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the thresholds comprise verification thresholds, and wherein the processor is coupled to verify the first storage values written to the cells using the verification thresholds.

45. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the stored data is encoded with an Error Correction Code (ECC), wherein the one or more thresholds comprise multiple sets of read thresholds, and wherein the processor is coupled to read multiple sets of third storage values from the cells using the respective multiple sets of the read thresholds, to compute soft decoding metrics responsively to the multiple sets of the third storage values, and to decode the ECC using the soft decoding metrics, so as to reconstruct the data.

46. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is operative to communicate with a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the interface and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein each of the memory cells stores multiple data bits, and wherein the processor is coupled to store multiple memory pages in the respective multiple data bits of the memory cells, and to read each of the memory pages using a subset of the thresholds.

47. A data storage apparatus, comprising:

a memory, which comprises a plurality of analog memory cells; and

a processor, which is connected to the memory and is coupled to store data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells, to read second storage values from the cells, to estimate a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values, to process the estimated CDF so as to compute one or more thresholds, and to perform a memory access operation on the cells using the one or more thresholds,

wherein the processor is coupled to define a model that produces a target CDF responsively to input parameters, to adapt the model by fitting the target CDF to the estimated CDF, and to compute the thresholds based on the adapted model.