This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0097831 filed on Oct. 7, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
At least some example embodiments relate to a non-volatile memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor memory devices may be largely classified into volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. The volatile memory devices can perform data read/write operations quickly, but they lose data when an external power supply is interrupted. On the other hand, the non-volatile memory devices can store data even when the external power supply is interrupted. Accordingly, the non-volatile memory devices are used to store data regardless of power supply. As examples of the non-volatile memory devices, there are a mask read-only memory (MROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) and the like.
At least one example embodiment provides a non-volatile memory device with improved reliability.
Other objects of at least some example embodiments will be described in or be apparent from the following description of the embodiments.
According to an aspect of at least one example embodiment, there is provided a non-volatile memory device including a first sector including a first sector selection transistor and a first plurality of pages connected to the first sector selection transistor; and a second sector including a second sector selection transistor and a second plurality of pages connected to the second sector selection transistor, wherein each of the first and second plurality of pages includes a memory transistor and a selection transistor, and a number of pages in the first plurality of pages is greater than a number of pages in the second plurality of pages.
According to at least one example embodiment, there is provided a non-volatile memory device including a first sector including a first sector selection transistor and a first plurality of pages connected to the first sector selection transistor; a second sector including a second sector selection transistor and a second plurality pages connected to the second sector selection transistor; and a control unit configured to apply an enable signal to each of the first and second pluralities of pages through word lines, wherein the control unit is configured to apply the enable signal to only some of the second plurality pages through the word lines.
According to at least one example embodiment, there is provided a non-volatile memory device including a first sector including a first sector selection transistor and a first plurality of pages connected to the first sector selection transistor; a second sector including a second sector selection transistor and a second plurality of pages connected to the second sector selection transistor; a third sector including a third sector selection transistor and a third plurality of pages connected to the third sector selection transistor; a fourth sector including a fourth sector selection transistor and a fourth plurality of pages connected to the fourth sector selection transistor; and a control unit configured to apply an enable signal to each of the first through fourth pluralities of pages through word lines, wherein a number of pages of the first plurality of pages is equal to a number of pages of the second plurality of pages, a number of pages of the third plurality of pages is equal to a number of pages of the fourth plurality of pages, the number of the pages of the third sector being smaller than the number of the pages of the first sector, and the control unit is configured to apply the enable signal to only some of the pages included in the second and fourth pluralities of pages through the word lines.
According to at least one example embodiment, a memory apparatus includes a memory device, the memory device including first and second sectors, each of the first and second sectors including a plurality of memory pages, each of the plurality of memory pages including at least one memory transistor and at least one page selection transistor, and a sector selection transistor configured to select pages from among the plurality of pages; and a memory controller configured to selectively control the memory device to store data in one of the first sector or the second sector based on whether or not the data is operation data.
Other example embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.
The above and other features and advantages of example embodiments will become more apparent by describing in detail example embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments and should not be interpreted to limit the intended scope of the claims. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted.
Detailed example embodiments are disclosed herein. However, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein.
Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but to the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of example embodiments. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the figures.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terns are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between”, “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent”, etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
Hereinafter, non-volatile memory devices in accordance with at least one example embodiment and modification examples thereof will be described with reference to
Although a two-transistor (2T)-Fowler-Nordheim (FN)-NOR memory is described as an example of a non-volatile memory device in at least one example embodiment, at least some example embodiments are not limited thereto.
The memory transistor MT forming a page is a substantially data storage element, which may include a floating gate serving as a charge storage region. Each page may be programmed by injecting electric charges in the floating gate by Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling, and erased by discharging the electric charges injected in the floating gate by F-N tunneling. The floating gate may be configured as a single gate or stack gate. A control gate may be formed on the floating gate. The control gates of the memory transistors MT arranged at the same page position may be connected in common to a selection line SL. Meanwhile, the selection transistor ST may include a selection gate to control activation of the memory transistor MT corresponding to the selection transistor ST. The selection gates of the selection transistors ST aligned in the same page line may be connected in common to the corresponding one of word lines WL0 to WL(K-1).
In this case, the sector may be enabled by one sector selection transistor SST1 or SST2, and include a plurality of pages connected to the sector selection transistor SST1 or SST2. In other words, referring to
The sector selection transistor SST1 (or SST2) may be controlled by a sector selection gate SSG, and serve to provide a signal of a bit line BL0 (or BL1) to the pages forming the sector Sector1 (or Sector2). For example, if the first sector selection transistor SST1 is turned on by the sector selection gate SSG, a signal of the bit line BL0 may be applied to the pages included in the first sector Sector1 such that the first sector Sector1 is enabled.
Meanwhile, a common source line CS may be connected to a source of the selection transistor ST. Further, a local bit line branched from the sector selection transistor SST1 or SST2 may be connected to a drain of the memory transistor MT. Although not shown, an additional transistor (not shown) connecting the selection line SL with a global control line GCL may be provided so as to program all pages in a first well PPW.
Next, a case of programming a specific page (represented by “Page” in
In this case, in order to prevent other pages from being programmed, the following operations may be performed on those which are not associated with the specific page: a ground voltage (e.g., 0 V) is applied to bit lines BL0 to BL(n-2) (represented by reference numeral 30 of
Next, a case of erasing a specific page (represented by “Page” in
In this case, in order to prevent other pages from being erased, the following operations may be performed on those which are not associated with the specific page: the bit lines BL0 to BL(n-2) (represented by reference numeral 30 of
When the program disturbance and the erase disturbance frequently occur due to repeated program/erase operations, it may have a bad influence on the reliability of the non-volatile memory device. For instance, if a specific sector is a sector storing code data, since the code data may not require frequent program/erase operations due to the nature of the code data, the program/erase disturbance may not frequently occur. However, if a specific sector is a sector storing operation data, since the operation data may require frequent program/erase operations due to the nature of the operation data, the program/erase disturbance frequently occurs, and it may have a bad influence on the reliability of the non-volatile memory device.
Referring to
Meanwhile, the number of pages of the first sector Sector1 may be greater than the number of pages of the second sector Sector2. Specifically, as shown in
In the non-volatile memory device in accordance with at least one example embodiment, the first sector Sector1 may be a sector storing the code data, and the second sector Sector2 may be a sector storing the operation data. That is, it is possible to minimize the program disturbance by reducing the number of pages of the second sector Sector2 in which the program operation frequently occurs, thereby improving the reliability of the non-volatile memory device.
Next, referring to
The control unit may apply an enable signal to only some of pages included in the second sector Sector2 through the word lines WL. Accordingly, a signal of the word lines WL may be applied to only some of [K/X] pages. That is, an enable signal is not applied through the word line WL to the nearest page to the second sector selection transistor SST2 among the pages of the second sector Sector2 of
As described above, in a case where the non-volatile memory device further includes the control unit, it is possible to more efficiently reduce the program disturbance than the non-volatile memory device in accordance with at least one example embodiment, thereby enhancing the reliability of the non-volatile memory device.
Next, referring to
Although the control unit is set to use all pages in the example of
Next, referring to
In the same way as the above, all of the embodiment and modification examples can be variously combined with each other. Since those skilled in the art can understand this from the above description, a description of specific and detailed combinations will be omitted.
Next, non-volatile memory devices in accordance with at least one example embodiment and a modification example thereof will be described with reference to
Referring to
Next, referring to
In the same way as the above, all of the embodiments and modification examples can be variously combined with each other. For instance, a non-volatile memory device in accordance with at least one example embodiment may include a first sector which is enabled by a first sector selection transistor and has a plurality of pages connected to the first sector selection transistor, a second sector which is enabled by a second sector selection transistor and has a plurality of pages connected to the second sector selection transistor, a third sector which is enabled by a third sector selection transistor and has a plurality of pages connected to the third sector selection transistor, a fourth sector which is enabled by a fourth sector selection transistor and has a plurality of pages connected to the fourth sector selection transistor, and a control unit which applies an enable signal to each page through word lines, wherein the first sector and the second sector have the same number (i.e., K) of pages, the third sector and the fourth sector have the same number of (i.e., [K/X]) of pages, and the control unit applies an enable signal to only some pages among the pages included in the second and fourth sectors through the word lines.
Next, an application example of the non-volatile memory device fabricated in accordance with at least one example embodiment will be described with reference to
Referring to
The system including the memory 510 and the memory controller 520 may be embodied in a card such as a memory card. Specifically, the system in accordance with at least one example embodiment may be embodied in a card which satisfies a specified industry standard and is used in an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a two-way communication system, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a personal communication system, a portable computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), an audio and/or video player, a digital and/or video camera, a navigation system, a global positioning system (GPS), and the like. However, it is not limited thereto, and the system in accordance with at least one example embodiment may be embodied in various forms such as a memory stick.
Referring to
Meanwhile, although the memory controller 520 is interposed between the memory 510 and the host system 530 in
Referring to
For convenience of explanation, all constituent elements included in the computer system 560 are not illustrated in
Example embodiments having thus been described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the intended spirit and scope of example embodiments, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2010-0097831 | Oct 2010 | KR | national |