High data reliability, high speed of memory access, lower power consumption and reduced chip size are features that are demanded from semiconductor memory. In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) memory devices have been introduced. Some 3D memory devices are formed by stacking chips (e.g., dies) vertically and interconnecting the chips using through substrate vias (TSVs). Benefits of the 3D memory devices include shorter interconnects which reduce circuit delays and power consumption, a large number of vertical vias between layers which allow wide bandwidth buses between functional blocks in different layers, and a considerably smaller footprint. Thus, the 3D memory devices contribute to higher memory access speed, lower power consumption and chip size reduction. Example 3D memory devices include Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC), High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), and a wide-I/O dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
For example, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a type of memory including a high-performance DRAM interface chip and vertically stacked DRAM chips. A typical HBM stack of four DRAM chips (e.g., core chips) has two 128-bit channels per chip for a total of eight input/output channels and a width of 1024 bits in total. An interface (IF) chip of the HBM provides an interface with the eight input/output channels, which function independently of each other. In the HBM, data transmission between chips (e.g., between an interface chip and core chips) via through substrate vias (TSVs) may cause high power consumption, due to current charge and discharge at the TSVs as capacitors.
3D memory devices (e.g., HBM and the like) support data bus inversion during write and read operation for reducing currents in data transmission between a host controller and chips (e.g., dies). As shown in
In a 3D memory device, on the other hand, there may be defects in connection (e.g., TSVs), such as improper connections to adjacent wirings, open terminals with high impedance due to poor connection, high resistance due to contamination, in TSVs for transmitting data between adjacent dies stacked to each other. This type of defects in connections may exacerbate a yield of devices. In order to enhance the yield of devices, a redundant TSV and a domino circuit are provided in each die, as shown in
Various embodiments of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific aspects and embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present invention. Other embodiments may be utilized, and structure, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The various embodiments disclosed herein are not necessary mutually exclusive, as some disclosed embodiments can be combined with one or more other disclosed embodiments to form new embodiments.
The IF chip 11 in the memory device 1 may include an IF DBI decoder 23. The IF DBI decoder 23 may receive the data bits on the data nodes 261 at an input buffer 231 and may further receive the DBI bit on the DBI node 262 at a DBI input buffer 232. The IF DBI decoder 23 may include a Di node that receives the data bits from the input buffer 231 and a DBI input node (DBIi) node that receives the DBI bit from the DBI input buffer 232. The IF DBI decoder 23 may be activated by IFDecoderEn signal received at an enable (EN) input of the IF DBI decoder 23. The IF DBI decoder 23 determines that the data bits are not subject to DBI-encoding and provides the data bits from a Do node to a TSV data bus 27 coupled to the core chip 12 via an output buffer 234, if the IFDecoderEn signal is inactive (e.g., the logic low level). The IF DBI decoder 23 determines that data is subject to DBI-encoding, if the IFDecoderEn signal is active (e.g., the logic high level). The IF DBI decoder 23 may further examine if the DBI bit received at the DBIi node is active while the IFDecoderEn signal is active. If the DBI bit is active (e.g., “1”) indicative of “DBI encoding”, the IF DBI decoder 23 may decode the data bits at the Di node and provide the decoded data bits to the Do node. If the DBI bit is inactive (e.g., “0”), the IF DBI decoder 23 may provide the data bits at the Di node to the Do node without data inversion
The IF chip 11 in the memory device 1 may include a DBI encoder 24. The IF DBI encoder 24 may include a Di node that receives data bits. The IF DBI encoder 24 may be activated by IFEncoderEn signal received at an enable (EN) input of the IF DBI encoder 24. The IF DBI encoder 24 determines that the current data bits are not subject to DBI-encoding and provides the current data bits from a Do node to the data nodes 261 coupled to the host device 2 via an output buffer 241, if the IFEncoderEn signal is inactive (e.g., the logic low level). The IF DBI encoder 24 determines that the current data bits are subject to DBI-encoding, if the IFEncoderEn signal is active (e.g., the logic high level). For example, the IF DBI encoder 24 may provide the current data bits (e.g., without inversion) from the Do node to the output buffer 241 coupled to the data nodes 261 and may further provide a DBI bit “0” indicative of “no DBI encoding” from a DBI output node (DBIo) via a multiplexer 243 to an output buffer 242 coupled to the DBI node 262, if the number of the data bits which transition from previous data bits read from the array 25 to the current data bits is fewer than a half of the number of the data bits to be transmitted. The IF DBI encoder 24 may provide data bits which are the current data bits after inversion to the output buffer 241 coupled to the data nodes 261 and further provide the DBI bit “1” indicative of “DBI encoding” via the multiplexer 243 to the output buffer 242 coupled to the DBI node 262, if the number of the data bits which transition from the previous data bits to the current data bits is equal to or more than a half of the number of the data bits to be transmitted. The multiplexer 243 may select the DBIo of the encoder 24 when the IFEncoderEn signal is active (e.g., the logic high level). On the other hand, when the IFEncoderEn signal is inactive (e.g., the logic low level), the multiplexer 243 may select the output of a DBI input buffer 244 coupled to a DBIchip node of an IF domino circuit 210 that will be described later. The host device 2 may include a host DBI decoder 22. The host DBI decoder 22 may receive the data bits from the data nodes 261 via an input buffer 221 at a data input node (Di) and the DBI bit from the DBI node 262 via an input buffer 222 at a DBI input node (DBIi). The IF chip 11 and the core chip 12 may include the IF domino circuit 210 and a core domino circuit 220, respectively. For example, the IF domino circuit 210 may be located between the output node of the output buffer 234 (or the input node of the DBI input buffer 244) and a set of TSV data nodes 271. The IF domino circuit 210 may further include a Dred node coupled to a redundant TSV node 272. For example, the core domino circuit 220 may be located between an input node of an input buffer 281 (or an output node of an output buffer 291) and the set of TSV data node 271. The core domino circuit 220 may further include a Dred node coupled to the redundant TSV node 272. Description of components corresponding to the domino circuit 130 in
The core chip 12 may include a core DBI encoder 29 and a core DBI decoder 28, and the DBI bit may be transmitted to the core chip 12 through the redundant TSV 272. The core DBI decoder 28 may perform the same operations as the IF DBI decoder circuit 23 responsive to a COREDecoderEn signal. The core DBI encoder 29 may perform the same operations as the IF DBI encoder circuit 24 responsive to a COREEncoderEn signal.
Turning back to
In the core die 12, a selector 41b may receive the RedEn signal and a signal from a mode register 20b and may provide the COREDecoderEn signal responsive to the RedEn signal and the signal from the mode register 20b. For example, the selector 41b may provide the COREDecoderEn signal in an active state (e.g., “1”) responsive to the write DBI enable bit (MR-WDBI enable) in an active state (e.g., “1”) while the RedEn signal is indicative of no defective via on the TSV data node 271, as shown in
For example, in a read operation, data may be read from the array 25 and provided to a core DBI encoder 29 in the core chip 12. The core DBI encoder 29 may be activated by COREEncoderEn signal received at an enable (EN) input of the core DBI encoder 29 from the selector 41b. The selector 41b may receive the RedEn signal and the signal from the mode register 20b and may provide the COREEncoderEn signal responsive to the RedEn signal and the signal from the mode register 20b. For example, the selector 41b may provide the COREEncoderEn signal in an active state (e.g., “1”) responsive to the read DBI enable bit (MR-RDBI enable) in an active state (e.g., “1”) while the RedEn signal is being “0”, indicative of no defective via on the TSV data node 271, as shown in
The core DBI encoder 29 may encode the data from the array 25 with the DBI algorithm responsive to the active COREEncoderEn signal and may provide the data to the output buffer 291 and an active DBI bit to a DBI output buffer 292, respectively. If the COREEncoderEn signal in an inactive state (e.g., “0”), the core DBI encoder 29 may not apply DBI encoding and the data is provided to the core domino circuit 220 via the output buffer 291. The core domino circuit 220 may receive the data and the DBI bit at the Dchip ports and the DBI chip port from the output buffer 291 and the DBI output buffer 292, respectively. The core domino circuit 220 may transmit the data and the DBI bit to the IF chip 11 through the TSV data node 271 and the redundant TSV node 272 from the TSV data ports Dtsv and the data redundancy port Dred, respectively, if the RedEn signal is equal to “0” indicative of no defective via on the TSV data node 271. The TSV data ports Dtsv and the redundant port Dred of the core domino circuit 220 may provide the data from the core domino circuit 220 through the TSV data node 271 and the redundant TSV node 272 with detouring the defective via, if the RedEn signal is equal to or greater than “1”, indicative of the location of the defective via on the TSV data node 271.
The IF domino circuit 210 may receive the data through the TSV data node 271 and the redundant TSV node 272 at the TSV data ports Dtsv and the data redundancy port Dred with detouring the defective via, if the RedEn signal is equal to or greater than “1”. The IF DBI encoder 24 may be activated by IFencoderEn signal received at an enable (EN) input of the IF DBI encoder 24 from the selector 41a. The selector 41a may receive the RedEn signal and the signal from the mode register 20a and may provide the IFEncoderEn signal responsive to the RedEn signal and the signal from the mode register 20a. For example, the selector 41a may provide the IFEncoderEn signal in an active state (e.g., “1”) responsive to the read DBI enable bit (MR-RDBI enable) in an active state (e.g., “1”) while the RedEn signal is equal to or greater than “1”, indicative of the defective via on the TSV data node 271, as shown in
The IF domino circuit 210 may receive the data and the DBI bit through the TSV data node 271 and the redundant TSV node 272 at the TSV data ports Dtsv and the data redundancy port Dred, respectively, if the RedEn signal is equal to “0” indicative of no defective via on the TSV data node 271. The IF domino circuit 210 may provide the data to an input buffer 245 and the DBI bit to the DBI input buffer 244. The selector 41a may provide the IFEncoderEn signal in an inactive state (e.g., “0”) responsive to the RedEn signal being “0” as shown in
Thus, the core DBI decoder 28 and the core DBI encoder 29 may perform DBI-decoding and DBI-encoding responsive to the DBI bit when the redundancy enable signal RedEN is equal to “0” indicative of no defective via in the TSV data node 271. The redundant TSV node 272 may transmit the DBI bit and DBI-encoded signals are transmitted on vias the TSV data node 271 to reduce currents on the vias of the TSV data node 271. The IF DBI decoder 23 and the IF DBI encoder 24 may perform DBI-decoding and DBI-encoding responsive to the DBI bit when the RedEN signal is greater than “0” indicative of a location of a defective via in the TSV data node and the redundant TSV node 272 may transmit a bit of the data while the defective via is disabled.
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
When the RedEn signal greater than “0”, the DBI bit may not be transmitted through the redundancy via 572 (TSV-red) and DBI-encoding and DBI-decoding may be performed in the IF die, because the redundancy via 572 (TSV-red) may be used for repairing the defective via in the vias 571 instead.
Logic levels of signals used in the embodiments described the above are merely examples. However, in other embodiments, combinations of the logic levels of signals other than those specifically described in the present disclosure may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
Although this invention has been disclosed in the context of certain preferred embodiments and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the inventions extend beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the inventions and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. In addition, other modifications which are within the scope of this invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art based on this disclosure. It is also contemplated that various combination or sub-combination of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments may be made and still fall within the scope of the inventions. It should be understood that various features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with or substituted for one another in order to form varying mode of the disclosed invention. Thus, it is intended that the scope of at least some of the present invention herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/468,742, filed Mar. 24, 2017. The aforementioned application is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, and for any purposes.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4365247 | Bargeton | Dec 1982 | A |
5272675 | Kobayashi | Dec 1993 | A |
5274593 | Proebsting | Dec 1993 | A |
5331320 | Cideciyan et al. | Jul 1994 | A |
5999458 | Nishimura et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
6032248 | Curry et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6115301 | Namekawa | Sep 2000 | A |
6307794 | Haga | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6333915 | Fujita | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6367027 | Frankowsky | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6518893 | Robinson | Feb 2003 | B1 |
6584526 | Bogin et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
6741190 | Henkel et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6747625 | Han et al. | Jun 2004 | B1 |
6844833 | Cornelious et al. | Jan 2005 | B2 |
6963220 | Momtaz et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
7113550 | Stonecypher et al. | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7280412 | Jang et al. | Oct 2007 | B2 |
7405981 | Dietrich | Jul 2008 | B2 |
7405984 | Hughes | Jul 2008 | B2 |
7501963 | Hollis | Mar 2009 | B1 |
7551167 | Park et al. | Jun 2009 | B2 |
7616133 | Hollis | Nov 2009 | B2 |
7701368 | Hollis | Apr 2010 | B2 |
8014196 | Graef | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8018358 | Hollis | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8026740 | Hollis | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8094045 | Hollis | Jan 2012 | B2 |
8207796 | Mangaiahgari | Jun 2012 | B2 |
8207976 | Hein | Jun 2012 | B2 |
8433190 | Wellbrock | Apr 2013 | B2 |
8762813 | Tang et al. | Jun 2014 | B2 |
8766828 | Hollis | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8826101 | Hargan | Sep 2014 | B2 |
8854236 | Hollis | Oct 2014 | B2 |
8879654 | Hollis | Nov 2014 | B2 |
9025409 | Shaeffer | May 2015 | B2 |
9048856 | Hollis | Jun 2015 | B2 |
9091727 | Lupu et al. | Jul 2015 | B1 |
9116828 | Hollis | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9148170 | Hollis | Sep 2015 | B2 |
9268719 | Shaeffer | Feb 2016 | B2 |
9405721 | Ayyapureddi et al. | Aug 2016 | B2 |
9798693 | Hollis | Oct 2017 | B2 |
9922686 | Hollis et al. | Mar 2018 | B2 |
10146719 | Kondo et al. | Dec 2018 | B2 |
20020156953 | Beiley et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20030170020 | Chaudhuri | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20040109509 | Stonecypher et al. | Jun 2004 | A1 |
20040135709 | Cornelius et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20050288642 | Kim | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20050289435 | Mulla et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20070008008 | Kwack et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070096950 | Yang et al. | May 2007 | A1 |
20070226430 | Dietrich | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20080019451 | Jang et al. | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080225603 | Hein | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080247501 | Zhang | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20090179782 | Hollis | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090182918 | Hollis | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090190690 | Kuwata | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090238300 | Hollis | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20090274245 | Brown et al. | Nov 2009 | A1 |
20090313521 | Hollis | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20100026533 | Hollis | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100027989 | Lewis | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100042889 | Hargan | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100199017 | Hollis | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20110018517 | Candage et al. | Jan 2011 | A1 |
20110116786 | Wellbrock | May 2011 | A1 |
20110156934 | Bae et al. | Jun 2011 | A1 |
20110222623 | Hollis | Sep 2011 | A1 |
20110252171 | Dearth et al. | Oct 2011 | A1 |
20110316726 | Hollis | Dec 2011 | A1 |
20120131244 | Abbasfar | May 2012 | A1 |
20120195131 | Pax | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20120206280 | Abbasfar | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20130091327 | Shido et al. | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130307708 | Hollis | Nov 2013 | A1 |
20140053040 | Hargan | Feb 2014 | A1 |
20140281075 | Hollis | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20140289440 | Shu | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20140289460 | Shu et al. | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20140313062 | Hollis | Oct 2014 | A1 |
20150022383 | Hollis | Jan 2015 | A1 |
20150227417 | Kim | Aug 2015 | A1 |
20150229325 | Hollis | Aug 2015 | A1 |
20150287446 | Hong | Oct 2015 | A1 |
20150356047 | Ayyapureddi et al. | Dec 2015 | A1 |
20160173128 | Ware | Jun 2016 | A1 |
20170337951 | Hollis et al. | Nov 2017 | A1 |
20180005671 | Hollis et al. | Jan 2018 | A1 |
20180047432 | Kondo et al. | Feb 2018 | A1 |
20180277175 | Kondo et al. | Sep 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
11-283396 | Oct 1999 | JP |
20150060346 | Jun 2015 | KR |
2014151637 | Sep 2014 | WO |
2014193574 | Dec 2014 | WO |
20170200820 | Nov 2017 | WO |
2018175634 | Sep 2018 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jul. 9, 2018 for PCT Application No. PCT/US2018/023629, 13 pages. |
U.S. Appl. No. 15/703,365, entitled “Apparatuses and Methods for Performing Intra-Module Databus Inversion Operations”, filed on Sep. 13, 2017. |
U.S. Appl. No. 15/987,895, titled “Semiconductor Layered Device with Data Bus Inversion”, filed May 23, 2018, pp. all. |
Cheng, et al., “Memory bus encoding for low power: a tutorial”, Quality Electronic Design, 2001 International Symposium on Mar. 26-28, 2001, Piscataway, NJ, USA, IEEE Mar. 26, 2001, pp. 199-204. |
Hollis “Data Bus Inversion in High-Speed Memory Applications”, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—II Express Briefs vol. 56, No. 4, Apr. 2009, pp. all. |
Rokhani, et al. “Low-Power Bus Transform Coding for Multilevel Signals”, IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems, Dec. 2006, pp. 1272-1275. |
Shin, Youngsoo et al., “Partial Bus-Invert Coding for Power Optimization of Application-Specific Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, vol. 9, No. 2, Apr. 2001, pp. all. |
Stan, et al., ““Bus-invert coding for low-power I/O””, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, IEEE Service Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA, vol. 3, No. 1, Mar. 1, 1995, pp. 49-58. |
Stan, et al., “Bus-Invert Coding for Low-Power I/O”, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration, vol. 3, No. 1, Mar. 1995, pp. 49-58. |
U.S. Appl. No. 16/163,471, titled “Semiconductor Device with First-in-First-Out Circuit”, filed Oct. 17, 2018, pp. all. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20190034370 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15468742 | Mar 2017 | US |
Child | 16150505 | US |