Semiconductor memory devices, memory systems and methods of operating semiconductor memory devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10614906-B2
Application number	US-201816140673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2018
Priority date	Sep 21, 2016
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of dynamic memory cells, an ECC engine configured to correct at least one error in a read data from the memory cell array, and a test circuit which performs a test on the memory cell array in a test mode of the semiconductor memory device by writing a test pattern data in the memory cell array and by reading, from the memory cell array, test result data corresponding to the test pattern data. When the test result data includes at least one error bit, the test circuit subtracts a second number from a first number of the at least one error bit and is configured to output the subtracted result to an outside of the semiconductor memory device. The second number corresponds to a number of error bits that the ECC engine is capable of correcting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor memory device comprising:
a memory cell array including a plurality of dynamic memory cells;
an error correction code (ECC) engine configured to correct at least one error in a read data from the memory cell array; and
a test circuit configured to perform a test on the memory cell array in a test mode of the semiconductor memory device by writing a test pattern data in the memory cell array and by reading test result data from the memory cell array, the test result data corresponding to the test pattern data,
wherein, in the test mode, when the test result data includes at least one error bit, the test circuit is configured to subtract a second number from a first number of the at least one error bit and is configured to output the subtracted result to an outside of the semiconductor memory device, and
wherein the second number corresponds to a number of error bits that the ECC engine is capable of correcting.

2. The semiconductor memory device of claim 1 , wherein in the test mode, the test circuit is configured to:
read a first size of the test pattern data as a first size of the test result data and compare corresponding bits of the test result data and the test pattern data;
generate a comparison signal based on the comparison, the comparison signal including first units;
perform a first test by comparing bits of each first unit in the comparison signal while counting a number of errors in the test result data; and
perform a second test by comparing bits in the first units in the comparison signal to corresponding bits in a second unit.

3. The semiconductor memory device of claim 2 , wherein the test circuit is configured to generate a first result signal by subtracting the second number from a first result of the first test and to generate a second result signal by subtracting the second number from a second result of the second test when the test result data includes the at least one error bit.

4. The semiconductor memory device of claim 1 , wherein the test circuit comprises:
a first buffer that stores the test pattern data;
a second buffer that stores the test result data;
a comparator block configured to compare corresponding bits of a first size of the test pattern data and a first size of the test result data and output a comparison signal based on the comparison, the comparison signal having first units;
an error counter block configured to provide an error signal based on bits of the comparison signal, the error signal indicating whether a number of errors in the test result data exceeds an error correction threshold of the ECC engine;
a first comparison circuit configured to compare bits of each first unit in the comparison signal to output a first intermediate result signal;
a second comparison circuit configured to compare the corresponding bits in a second unit to output a second intermediate result signal;
a first selective blocking interface configured to receive the error signal and the first intermediate result signal and configured to subtract the second number from the first intermediate result signal in response to an error correction capability information signal to output a first result signal, the error correction capability information signal indicating error correction threshold of the ECC engine; and
a second selective blocking interface configured to receive the error signal and the second intermediate result signal and configured to subtract the second number from the second intermediate result signal in response to the error correction capability information signal to output a second result signal.

5. The semiconductor memory device of claim 4 , further comprising:
a transmission circuit configured to perform an AND operation on the error signal and the first result signal, to transmit the first result signal to an external test device as a first test result signal, and to transmit the first result signal and the second result signal as a second test result signal to the external test device.

6. The semiconductor memory device of claim 5 , wherein the transmission circuit is configured to transmit the first test result signal to the external test device only when the error signal indicates that the number of errors in the test result data exceeds the error correction threshold of the ECC engine.

7. The semiconductor memory device of claim 5 , wherein the test circuit is configured to transmit the error signal, the first test result signal, and the second test result signal to the external test device through a data output path of the semiconductor memory device.

8. The semiconductor memory device of claim 1 , further comprising:
first group dies including at least one buffer die; and
second group dies including a plurality of memory dies, the plurality of memory dies being stacked on the first group dies and configured to convey data through a plurality of through silicon via (TSV) lines,
wherein at least one of the plurality of memory dies includes the memory cell array, the test circuit and the ECC engine, and the ECC engine is configured to generate transmission parity bits using transmission data to be sent to the first group dies, and
the at least one buffer die includes a via ECC engine configured to correct a transmission error using the transmission parity bits when the transmission error is detected from the transmission data received through the plurality of TSV lines.

9. A memory system comprising:
a semiconductor memory device, the semiconductor memory device including a memory cell array, an error correction code (ECC) engine and a test circuit; and
a test device configured to control a test of the semiconductor memory device, the test device including a first fail address memory and a second fail address memory,
wherein, in a test mode of the semiconductor memory device, the test circuit is configured to perform a first test on the memory cell array to generate a first test result, to subtract a second number from a first number of at least one error bit of the first test result, to selectively record in the first fail address memory a first result signal associated with the first test, to perform a second test on the memory cell array, to generate a second test result, to subtract the second number from the second test result, and to record in the second fail address memory a second result signal associated with the second test, the test circuit configured to perform the first test and the second test based on a test pattern data from the test device, and
wherein the second number corresponds to a number of error bits that the ECC engine is capable of correcting.

10. The memory system of claim 9 , wherein in the test mode, the test circuit is configured to:
read a first size of the test pattern data as a first size of test result data;
compare corresponding bits of the test result data and the test pattern data, and generate a comparison signal based on the comparison, the comparison signal including first units;
perform the first test by comparing bits of each first unit in the comparison signal while counting a number of errors in the test result data; and
perform the second test by comparing bits in the first units in the comparison signal to corresponding bits in a second unit.

11. The memory system of claim 10 , wherein the test circuit is configured to generate the first result signal by subtracting the second number from a first result of the first test and to generate the second result signal by subtracting the second number from a second result of the second test.

12. The memory system of claim 10 , wherein the test circuit is configured to record a

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ryu Ye-Sin
• Cha Sang-Uhn

Classifications

• G11C29/44

  Indication or identification of errors, e.g. for repair · CPC title

• G06F11/0793

  Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40) · CPC title

• G06F11/1076

  Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems · CPC title

• G11C29/42 Primary

  using error correcting codes [ECC] or parity check · CPC title

• G06F11/1048

  using arrangements adapted for a specific error detection or correction feature · CPC title