17821608. CALIBRATION OF THRESHOLD VOLTAGE SHIFT VALUES simplified abstract (International Business Machines Corporation)

CALIBRATION OF THRESHOLD VOLTAGE SHIFT VALUES

Organization Name

International Business Machines Corporation

Inventor(s)

Radu Ioan Stoica of Zurich (CH)

Roman Alexander Pletka of Uster (CH)

Nikolas Ioannou of Zurich (CH)

Nikolaos Papandreou of Thalwil (CH)

Charalampos Pozidis of Thalwil (CH)

Timothy J. Fisher of Cypress TX (US)

Aaron Daniel Fry of Richmond TX (US)

CALIBRATION OF THRESHOLD VOLTAGE SHIFT VALUES - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17821608 titled 'CALIBRATION OF THRESHOLD VOLTAGE SHIFT VALUES

Simplified Explanation

The patent application describes a method for calibrating threshold voltage shift values (TVS values) in a non-volatile memory unit.

• The memory unit consists of memory cells organized into pages, which are further organized into blocks.
• During calibration, a read operation is performed on a specific page using given TVS values.
• If the read operation fails, corrected TVS values are determined based on reference TVS values from other pages.
• The read operation is then repeated using the corrected TVS values.
• This method leverages TVS values from reference pages to correct TVS values of failing pages, avoiding the need for repeated re-reading.

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1. 1. 1. Potential Applications

• Non-volatile memory devices
• Solid-state drives
• Flash memory

1. 1. 1. Problems Solved

• Improving reliability and accuracy of read operations in non-volatile memory units
• Avoiding the need for repeated re-reading of failing pages

1. 1. 1. Benefits

• Enhanced performance and efficiency of memory units
• Reduced errors and failures in read operations
• Cost-effective calibration method for non-volatile memory devices

Original Abstract Submitted

Threshold voltage shift values, or TVS values, are calibrated for a non-volatile memory unit including strings of memory cells organized into memory pages, the memory pages being organized into blocks. The calibration involves a read operation to read a given page of the memory pages, based on given one or more TVS values for the given page. In response to a read failure of the read operation, the calibration determines one or more corrected TVS values based on one or more reference TVS values of one or more reference pages of the memory pages. The calibration subsequently performs a read operation to read the given page based on the one or more corrected TVS values. This calibration exploits TVS values of reference pages to determine corrected TVS values of the failing page, instead of finding appropriate TVS values by repeatedly re-reading the failing page.