APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A CONFIGURATION PARAMETER FOR SOLID-STATE STORAGE MEDIA

• US 20120203951A1
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Published: 08/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fusion-IO Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Wood, Robert, Sun, Hairong, Hyun, Jea
• Granted Patent: US 8,380,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/102
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/56 using storage elements with more than two stable states represented by steps, e.g. of voltage, current, phase, frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/28 using differential sensing or reference cells, e.g. dummy cells
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/02 Detection or location of defective auxiliary circuits, e.g. defective refresh counters
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/026 in sense amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/028 with adaption or trimming of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/42 using error correcting codes [ECC] or parity check

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed to improve the utility of solid-state storage media by determining one or more configuration parameters for the solid-state storage media. A media characteristic module references one or more storage media characteristics for a set of storage cells of solid-state storage media. A configuration parameter module determines a configuration parameter for the set of storage cells based on the one or more storage media characteristics. A storage cell configuration module configures the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter.

Claims

1. A method to improve the utility of solid-state storage media, the method comprising:

referencing one or more storage media characteristics for a set of storage cells of solid-state storage media;

determining a configuration parameter for the set of storage cells based on the one or more storage media characteristics; and

configuring the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the one or more storage media characteristics for the set of storage cells in response to an update event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the update event comprises one or more of a background scan of the solid-state storage media comprising the set of storage cells, a read request for the set of storage cells, a read request for neighboring storage cells of the set of storage cells, a startup operation for a device comprising the set of storage cells, a shutdown operation for a device comprising the set of storage cells, and a garbage collection operation for the set of storage cells.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the configuration parameter for the set of storage cells in response to a change in the one or more storage media characteristics.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a plurality of additional configuration parameters for a plurality of different sets of storage cells of the solid-state storage media based on storage media characteristics for the plurality of different sets of storage cells and configuring the plurality of different sets of storage cells to use the plurality of additional configuration parameters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a parameter of the set of storage cells modifiable by way of an interface, the configuration parameter selected from the group comprising a read voltage, a step magnitude for an incremental step pulse programming operation, a maximum number of iterations for an incremental step pulse programming operation, a program verify threshold for a program operation, an initial bias for an incremental step pulse programming operation, a step magnitude for an incremental step pulse erase operation, a maximum number of iterations for an incremental step pulse erase operation, an erase verify threshold for an erase operation, and an initial bias for an incremental step pulse erase operation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter further comprises configuring the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter in response to a trigger.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the trigger comprises one of, a change in the one or more storage media characteristics, a read request for the set of storage cells, a startup operation for a device comprising the set of storage cells, and a regular shutdown operation for a device comprising the set of storage cells.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more storage media characteristics comprise one or more of a program/erase cycle count for the set of storage cells, a read count for the set of storage cells, a retention time since a previous write for the set of storage cells, a temperature for the set of storage cells, a use case for the set of storage cells, and an error statistic for the set of storage cells.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined configuration parameter is based on a target set of storage cells, the target set of storage cells having controlled use characteristics.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determined configuration parameter for the set of storage cells is based on one of a determined configuration parameter for the target set of storage cells and one or more storage media characteristics for the target set of storage cells.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the configuration parameter for the set of storage cells comprises,

comparing the at least one of the one or more storage media characteristics for the set of storage cells to at least one storage media characteristic for the target set of storage cells;

and

determining the configuration parameter for the set of storage cells based on a difference between the at least one storage media characteristic for the set of storage cells and the at least one storage media characteristic for the target set of storage cells.

13. An apparatus to improve the utility of solid-state storage media, the apparatus comprising:

a media characteristic module that references one or more storage media characteristics for a set of storage cells of solid-state storage media;

a configuration parameter module that determines a configuration parameter for the set of storage cells based on the one or more storage media characteristics; and

a storage cell configuration module that configures the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a characteristic update module that updates the one or more storage media characteristics for the set of storage cells in response to an update event.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a configuration update module that updates the configuration parameter for the set of storage cells in response to a change in the one or more storage media characteristics.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the media characteristic module maintains the one or more storage media characteristics for the set of storage cells in a storage media characteristic repository comprising storage media characteristics for a plurality of different sets of storage cells of the solid-state storage media.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the configuration parameter module maintains the determined configuration parameter for the set of storage cells in a configuration parameter repository comprising configuration parameters for a plurality of different sets of storage cells of the solid-state storage media.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more storage media characteristics comprise one or more of a program/erase cycle count for the set of storage cells, a read count for the set of storage cells, a retention time since a previous write for the set of storage cells, a temperature for the set of storage cells, a use case for the set of storage cells, and an error statistic for the set of storage cells.

19. A system to improve the utility of solid-state storage media, the system comprising:

a solid-state storage device, the solid-state storage device comprising solid-state storage media;

a media characteristic module that references one or more storage media characteristics for a set of storage cells of the solid-state storage media;

a configuration parameter module that determines a configuration parameter for the set of storage cells based on the one or more storage media characteristics; and

a storage cell configuration module that configures the set of storage cells to use the determined configuration parameter.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a host device in communication with the solid-state storage device, wherein at least a portion of one or more of the media characteristic module, the configuration parameter module, and the storage cell configuration module is part of a device driver for the solid-state storage device, the device driver installed on the host device.