Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100128537 | METHOD OF PROGRAMMING A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY - A memory system including non-volatile memory cells. The memory system includes program circuitry that programs cells to a first threshold voltage or a second threshold voltage based on the number of times that cells of the memory system have been erased. In one embodiment, the threshold voltage is reduced when any set of cells of the memory system have been erased a specific number of times. | 05-27-2010 |
20110271034 | MULTIPLE PARTITIONED EMULATED ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE (EEE) MEMORY AND METHOD OF OPERATION - A method and system wherein a volatile memory is partitioned to have a first percentage of address space dedicated to a first classification of data which is data that is expected to have greater than a predetermined number of times of being modified and a second percentage of address space dedicated to a second classification of data which is data that is expected to have less than the predetermined probability of being modified. Address assignment of data to be stored in the volatile memory is made on a basis of predicted change of the data. Memory addresses of the first and second percentages of address space are respectively assigned to first and second sections of nonvolatile memory. The memory addresses of the first percentage initially consume a smaller percentage of an address map of the first section than the memory addresses of the second percentage of the second section. | 11-03-2011 |
20110271035 | EMULATED ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE (EEE) MEMORY AND METHOD OF OPERATION - A system has an emulation memory having a plurality of sectors for storing information. A controller calculates a number of addresses used divided by a number of valid records in a predetermined address range of the emulation memory. An amount of remaining addresses in a currently used space of the emulation memory which have not been used to store information is calculated. A determination is made whether the calculation is greater than a first predetermined number and whether the amount of remaining addresses is greater than a second predetermined number. If both the fraction is greater than the first predetermined number and the amount of remaining addresses is greater than the second predetermined number, any subsequent update requests are responded to using the currently used space of the emulation memory. Otherwise a compression of the emulation memory is required by copying valid data to an available sector. | 11-03-2011 |
20120005403 | RECOVERY SCHEME FOR AN EMULATED MEMORY SYSTEM - In a system having an emulation memory having a first sector of non-volatile memory for storing information, wherein the non-volatile memory includes a plurality of records, a method includes determining if a last record written of the plurality of records is a compromised record; if the last record written is not a compromised record, performing a next write to a record of the plurality of records that is next to the last record written; and if the last record written is a comprised record: determining an address of the compromised record; writing valid data for the address of the compromised record into the record of the plurality of records that is next to the compromised record; and writing data into a record that is next to the record of the plurality of records that is next to the compromised record. | 01-05-2012 |
20130102143 | METHOD OF MAKING A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CELL HAVING A FLOATING GATE - Forming an NVM structure includes forming a floating gate layer; forming a first dielectric layer over the floating gate layer; forming a plurality of nanocrystals over the first dielectric layer; etching the first dielectric layer using the plurality of nanocrystals as a mask to form dielectric structures, wherein the floating gate layer is exposed between adjacent dielectric structures; etching a first depth into the floating gate layer using the plurality of dielectric structures as a mask to form a plurality of patterned structures, wherein the first depth is less than a thickness of the floating gate layer; patterning the floating gate layer to form a floating gate; forming a second dielectric layer over the floating gate, wherein the second dielectric layer is formed over the patterned structures and on the floating gate layer between adjacent patterned structures; and forming a control gate layer over the second dielectric layer. | 04-25-2013 |
20130178027 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) AND LOGIC INTEGRATION - A method of forming an NVM cell and a logic transistor uses a semiconductor substrate. A polysilicon select gate of the NVM cell is formed over a first thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer in an NVM region and a polysilicon dummy gate is formed over a second thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer in a logic region. Source/drains, a sidewall spacer, and silicided regions of the logic transistor are formed after the first and second thermally-grown oxygen-containing layers are formed. The second thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer and the dummy gate are replaced by a metal gate and a high-k dielectric. The logic transistor is protected while the NVM cell is then formed including forming a charge storage layer. | 07-11-2013 |
20130217197 | INTEGRATION TECHNIQUE USING THERMAL OXIDE SELECT GATE DIELECTRIC FOR SELECT GATE AND REPLACEMENT GATE FOR LOGIC - A control gate overlying a charge storage layer is formed. A thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer is formed over the control gate. A polysilicon layer is formed over the oxygen-containing layer and planarized. A first masking layer is formed defining a select gate location laterally adjacent the control gate and a second masking layer is formed defining a logic gate location. Exposed portions of the polysilicon layer are removed such that a select gate remains at the select gate location and a polysilicon portion remains at the logic gate location. A dielectric layer is formed around the select and control gates and polysilicon portion. The polysilicon portion is removed to result in an opening in the dielectric. A high-k gate dielectric and logic gate are formed in the opening. | 08-22-2013 |
20130267072 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) AND LOGIC INTEGRATION - A method of forming an NVM cell and a logic transistor uses a semiconductor substrate. In an NVM region, a polysilicon select gate of the NVM cell is formed over a first thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer, and in a logic region, a work-function-setting material is formed over a high-k dielectric and a polysilicon dummy gate is formed over the work-function-setting material. Source/drains, a sidewall spacer, and silicided regions of the logic transistor are formed after the first thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer is formed. The polysilicon dummy gate is replaced by a metal gate. The logic transistor is protected while the NVM cell is then formed including forming a charge storage region. | 10-10-2013 |
20130267074 | INTEGRATION TECHNIQUE USING THERMAL OXIDE SELECT GATE DIELECTRIC FOR SELECT GATE AND APARTIAL REPLACEMENT GATE FOR LOGIC - A thermally-grown oxygen-containing layer is formed over a control gate in an NVM region, and a high-k dielectric layer and barrier layer are formed in a logic region. A polysilicon layer is formed over the oxygen-containing layer and barrier layer and is planarized. A first masking layer is formed over the polysilicon layer and control gate defining a select gate location laterally adjacent the control gate. A second masking layer is formed defining a logic gate location. Exposed portions of the polysilicon layer are removed such that a select gate remains at the select gate location and a polysilicon portion remains at the logic gate location. A dielectric layer is formed around the select and control gates and polysilicon portion. The polysilicon portion is removed to result in an opening at the logic gate location which exposes the barrier layer. | 10-10-2013 |
20130268717 | EMULATED ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE MEMORY HAVING SECTOR MANAGEMENT - A semiconductor memory device comprises a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory including a plurality of sectors. Each of the plurality of sectors configured to store a sector status indicator and a plurality of data records. A control module is coupled to the non-volatile memory and the volatile memory. The control module manages the sectors by scanning the sectors to identify the records with invalid data; changing the status indicator of a particular sector when all of the records in the particular sector are invalid, and discontinuing scanning the particular sector while all of the records in the particular sector are invalid. | 10-10-2013 |
20130290808 | ERASING A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) SYSTEM HAVING ERROR CORRECTION CODE (ECC) - A method of erasing a non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprising determining a number of bit cells that failed to erase verify during an erase operation. The bit cells are included in a subset of bit cells in an array of bit cells. The method further comprises determining whether an Error Correction Code (ECC) correction has been previously performed for the subset of bit cells. The erase operation is considered successful if the number of bit cells that failed to erase verify after a predetermined number of erase pulses is below a threshold number and the ECC correction has not been performed for the subset of bit cells. | 10-31-2013 |
20130320284 | FIELD FOCUSING FEATURES IN A RERAM CELL - A resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cell, comprising a first conductive electrode and a dielectric storage material layer over the first conductive electrode. The dielectric storage material layer is conducive to the formation of conductive filaments during the application of a filament forming voltage to the cell. The cell includes a second conductive electrode over the dielectric storage material layer and an interface region comprising a plurality of interspersed field focusing features that are not photo-lithographically defined. The interface region is located between the first conductive electrode and the dielectric storage material layer or between the dielectric storage material layer and the second conductive electrode. | 12-05-2013 |
20130320285 | FIELD FOCUSING FEATURES IN A RERAM CELL - A resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cell comprising a first conductive electrode and a dielectric storage material layer over the first conductive electrode. The dielectric storage material layer is conducive to the formation of conductive filaments during the application of a filament forming voltage to the cell. The cell includes a second conductive electrode over the dielectric storage material layer and a layer of conductive nanoclusters ( | 12-05-2013 |
20130346680 | EMULATED ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE MEMORY HAVING AN ADDRESS RAM FOR DATA STORED IN FLASH MEMORY - A memory system comprises a memory controller, an address RAM coupled to the memory controller, and a non-volatile memory coupled to the memory controller. The non-volatile memory has an address portion and a data portion. The address portion of the non-volatile memory provides data portion addresses and data portion addresses of valid data to the memory controller. The memory controller loads the data portion addresses and stores them in the address RAM at locations defined by the data portion addresses of valid data into the address RAM. The memory controller uses the data portion addresses, and locations of data blocks within the address RAM, to locate the data blocks within the data portion of non-volatile memory. The memory controller uses the data portion addresses, and locations of the data block addresses within the address RAM, to locate data blocks within the data portion of non-volatile memory | 12-26-2013 |
20140120713 | METHOD OF MAKING A LOGIC TRANSISTOR AND A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) CELL - An oxide-containing layer is formed directly on a semiconductor layer in an NVM region, and a first partial layer of a first material is formed over the oxide-containing layer in the NVM region. A first high-k dielectric layer is formed directly on the semiconductor layer in a logic region. A first conductive layer is formed over the first dielectric layer in the logic region. A second partial layer of the first material is formed directly on the first partial layer in the NVM region and over the first conductive layer in the logic region. A logic device is formed in the logic region. An NVM cell is formed in the NVM region, wherein the first and second partial layer together are used to form one of a charge storage layer if the cell is a floating gate cell or a select gate if the cell is a split gate cell. | 05-01-2014 |
20140269008 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY USING BI-DIRECTIONAL RESISTIVE ELEMENTS - A memory cell includes a first bidirectional resistive memory element (BRME), and a second BRME, a first storage node, and a second storage node . A resistive memory write to the cell includes placing the first BRME and the second BRME in complementary resistive states indicative of the value being written. During a subsequent restoration operation, the value as written in the first BRME and second BRME is written to the first storage node and the second storage node while a wordline connected to the memory cell is deasserted. | 09-18-2014 |
20140295639 | FIELD FOCUSING FEATURES IN A RERAM CELL - A resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cell comprising a first conductive electrode and a dielectric storage material layer over the first conductive electrode. The dielectric storage material layer is conducive to the formation of conductive filaments during the application of a filament forming voltage to the cell. The cell includes a second conductive electrode over the dielectric storage material layer and a layer of conductive nanoclusters ( | 10-02-2014 |
20150072489 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) CELL AND HIGH-K AND METAL GATE TRANSISTOR INTEGRATION - A method of making a semiconductor device includes depositing a layer of polysilicon in a non-volatile memory (NVM) region and a logic region of a substrate. The layer of polysilicon is patterned into a gate in the NVM region while the layer of polysilicon remains in the logic region. A memory cell is formed including the gate in the NVM region while the layer of polysilicon remains in the logic region. The layer of polysilicon in the logic region is removed and the substrate is implanted to form a well region in the logic region after the memory cell is formed. A layer of gate material is deposited in the logic region. The layer of gate material is patterned into a logic gate in the logic region. | 03-12-2015 |