Memory element profiling and operational adjustments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020142590-A1
Application number	US-201816182399-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 6, 2018
Priority date	Nov 6, 2018
Publication date	May 7, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A memory profiling system can generate profiles for target memory units of a memory component during runtime of the memory component. The memory profiling system can identify target memory units based on trigger conditions such as memory units crossing a specified depth in error recovery, receipt of a vendor specific (VS) command, memory unit retirement, or excessive background scan rates. In some cases, the memory profiling system can identify additional target memory units that are related to identified target memory units. The characterization processes can include computing voltage threshold (vt) distributions, Auto Read Calibration (ARC) analysis, Continuous Read Level Calibration (cRLC) analysis, DiffEC metrics, or gathering memory component metrics. The memory profiling system can store the generated profiles and can utilize the generated profiles to adjust operating parameters of one or more memory elements of the memory device, in real time.

First claim

I/We claim:

1 . A method comprising:
identifying a trigger condition for profiling one or more memory units of a memory device; selecting a set of one or more target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition; augmenting the set of target memory units with one or more additional memory units related to the selected set of one or more target memory units; generating, during runtime of the memory device, a profile for each of the target memory units in the augmented set of target memory units; and storing the generated profiles.

2 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the trigger condition comprises an identification that a memory unit entered error recovery; and wherein the target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition comprise the memory unit that entered error recovery.

3 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the memory device uses a sequence comprising multiple stages in error recovery for memory units; wherein the trigger condition comprises an identification that a memory unit in error recovery reached at least a threshold stage in the error recovery sequence; and wherein the target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition comprise the memory unit that reached the threshold stage.

4 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the trigger condition comprises an identification that a memory unit has been selected for retirement; and wherein the target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition comprise the memory unit selected for retirement.

5 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the memory device uses a background scanning procedure; and wherein the trigger condition comprises:
an identification that a dynamically configured background scan interval has been set above a threshold level; or
an identification that a background scan generated a quality measure for one or more memory units below a threshold.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising utilizing the stored profiles to adjust, in real-time, operating parameters of one or more memory elements of the memory device.

7 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the memory device comprises negative-and (NAND) memory components; and wherein the target memory units comprise pages in the NAND memory components, blocks in the NAND memory components, or a combination of pages and blocks in the NAND memory components.

8 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the selecting the set of one or more target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition comprises selecting a page from within a memory block; and wherein the one or more additional memory units comprise:
one or more pages in the same word line as the selected page; and
one or more pages that are in the word lines immediately above and/or immediately below the word line in the same stack, of the memory block, as the selected page.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the profile for each of the target memory units comprises computing a voltage threshold (vt) distribution for each of the target memory units.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the profile for each of the target memory units comprises performing an Auto Read Calibration (ARC) analysis for each of the target memory units.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the profile for each of the target memory units comprises performing a Continuous Read Level Calibration (cRLC) analysis for each of the target memory units.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the profile for each of the target memory units comprises logging metrics for each of the target memory units, the metrics comprising one or more of: total operation count, erase operation count, read operation count, associated temperature, power on hours, or any combination thereof.

13 . The method of claim 1 further comprising acting on the stored profiles by adjusting operating parameters of one or more memory elements of the memory device, wherein adjusting the operating parameters comprises:
accessing a mapping of profile characteristics to actions;
using at least one of the profiles as a key, in the mapping, to identify an action specifying the adjustments to the operating parameters of the one or more memory elements; and
implementing the action by making the adjustments to the operating parameters.

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to:
identify a trigger condition for profiling one or more memory units of a memory device; select a set of one or more target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition; augment the set of target memory units with one or more additional memory units related to the selected set of one or more target memory units; generate, during runtime of the memory device, a profile for each of the memory units in the augmented set of target memory units; and storing the generated profiles in association with previously generated profiles corresponding to one or more previous trigger conditions.

15 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the memory device uses a sequence comprising multiple stages in error recovery for memory units; wherein the trigger condition comprises an identification that a memory unit in error recovery reached at least a threshold stage in the error recovery sequence; and wherein the target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition comprise the memory unit that reached the threshold stage.

16 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the trigger condition comprises one of:
an identification that a memory unit has been selected for retirement;
an identification that a dynamically configured background scan interval has been set above a threshold level; or
an identification that a background scan generated a quality measure for one or more memory units below a threshold.

17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein generating the profile for each of the target memory units comprises one or more of:
computing a voltage threshold (vt) distribution for each of the target memory units; performing an Auto Read Calibration (ARC) analysis for each of the target memory units; performing a Continuous Read Level Calibration (cRLC) analysis for each of the target memory units; or any combination thereof.

18 . A system comprising:
a memory; and one or more processors that perform operations comprising:
identifying a trigger condition for profiling one or more memory units of a memory component;
selecting a set of one or more target memory units corresponding to the identified trigger condition;
augmenting the set of target memory units with one or more additional memory units related to the selected set of one or more target memory units;
generating, during runtime of a memory device that includes the memory component, a profile for each of the memory units in the augmented set of target memory units; and
storing the generated profiles.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise adjusting operating parameters of one or more memory elements of the memory device, based on the stored profiles, by:
accessing a mapping of profile characteristics to actions; using at least one of the stored profiles as a key, in the mapping, to identify an action specifying the adjustments to the operating para

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Chew Francis
• Liikanen Bruce A

Classifications

• G06F3/0604 Primary

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/0653

  Monitoring storage devices or systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0679

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP] · CPC title

• G06F3/0688 Primary

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays · CPC title

• G06F3/0658

  Controller construction arrangements · CPC title