MLC闪存的最小和译码算法研究

随着多级单元(Multi-Level Cell,MLC)闪存存储密度的增加,单元间干扰(Cell-toCell Interference,CCI)成为影响NAND闪存可靠性的主要噪声。针对这种情况,在深入分析MLC闪存信道模型和CCI噪声模型的基础上,利用MLC阈值电压的均匀感知策略获取闪存页中每比特的对数似然比(Log-Likelihood Ratio,LLR)信息,提出了一种MLC型NAND闪存的最小和译码算法。仿真结果表明,在MLC闪存信道下,该方法既可保证闪存单元可靠性,又具有较短闪存单元的读取时间,从而实现了译码复杂度和性能间的良好折衷。     

一种用于NAND闪存的奇偶位线块编程补偿算法

为改善数据保持干扰和编程干扰对NAND闪存可靠性的影响,提出了一种新的奇偶位线块编程补偿算法。该算法利用编程干扰效应来补偿由数据保持引起的阈值漂移,修复NAND闪存因数据保持产生的误码,提高了NAND闪存的可靠性。将该算法应用于编程擦除次数为3k次的1x-nm MLC NAND闪存。实验结果表明,在数据保持时间为1年的条件下,与传统奇偶交叉编程算法相比,采用该补偿算法的NAND闪存的误码降低了93%;与读串扰恢复算法相比,采用该补偿算法的NAND闪存的误码下降了38%。     

38 nm NAND闪存可靠性评估关键问题研究

通过提取阈值电压变化,研究了温度、连续读操作和α粒子辐射三种应力因子对38 nm SLC NAND闪存产品的可靠性影响。结果表明,温度和α粒子引起阈值电压的退化呈幂数规律,连续读操作则仅造成随机波动;低温(75 ℃)时,数据保持时间偏离激活能曲线的原因可能源于隧穿氧化层中的氟离子;单个存储单元晶体管级别的读噪声相比芯片整体更大。α粒子辐射可以诱发低水平的软错误几率。该研究结果为产品可靠性计划的制定和改善提供了重要依据。     

一种高效率访问NAND数据的方法

针对NAND闪存的擦写特点,提出了一种基于内存的数据缓存机制访问NAND数据的方法.该方法以NAND块大小的整数倍创建缓存,并采用了“缓存块使用率”的缓存替换机制.使用该方法不仅大大提高了缓存的有效命中率,而且能大幅提高NAND的读写速度.提出的数据缓存机制,对于NAND的写操作,不需要每次都写入NAND,也能有效减少对NAND的擦写次数,不但可以降低坏块产生的几率,而且可以有效的延长NAND使用的寿命.     

SSD的现状及发展前景

半导体硬盘SSD(固态硬盘)由NAND闪存、NAND控制器以及用作缓冲存储器的DRAM所构成(见图1)。在SSD中,坏块管理、纠错编码(ECC)及单元调整等处理都由NAND控制器的闪存转换层(FTL)来执行。SSD的性能不仅取决于NAND闪存的性能,而且在很大程度上还会受到NAND控制器算法的影响。因此,在优化NAND控制器的设计时,需要考虑到NAND闪存的特性。本文将基于NAND闪存的器件技术及电路技术,以NAND控制器技术为中心,论述SSD技术的现状和今后的挑战等。     

Micron增强企业级固态硬盘系列产品

Micron推出一款新的固态硬盘（SSD）,为企业级客户提供了一个性价比极具吸引力的NAND闪存存储选择。该新型驱动器用于读取缓存、直接连接存储（DAS）,和启动虚拟桌面基础设施-用于服务器和刀锋设计的所有关键应用。     

一种基于NAND FLASH基带数据模拟源的设计与实现

针对卫星数传分系统基带数据模拟源的要求,提出了基于FPGA控制的NAND FLASH解决方案,阐述了该方案的硬件和软件的设计与实现,对NAND FLASH的读、写、擦除的操作时序进行了研究。单片FLASH最高读取速率可达250 Mbps,可通过多片FLASH芯片并行读取达到更高的读取速率。试验表明,该方案实现的卫星数传分系统基带数据模拟源可以有效模拟卫星数传分系统所需的数据模拟源,满足卫星数传分系统测试的需求。     

多通道NAND闪存控制器的硬件实现

本文提出了在一款片上系统(SOC)芯片设计中的多通道NAND闪存控制器实现方案。在对NAND闪存控制器的结构和实现方法的研究上,闪存控制器利用带两个16K字节缓冲器的高效率缓冲管理控制器来管理4个通道,每个通道可以连接4片闪存芯片。控制器内嵌16比特BCH纠错模块,支持AMBAAHB总线与MLC闪存。文中还介绍了行地址计算与快闪存储器存储单元的初始化。结果分析里给出了控制器的仿真波形、功耗分析和综合结果。在一个存储组与一个通道的配置条件下,控制器的实现只需要71K逻辑门。     

大容量弹载数据记录器的设计与实现

提出了一种大容量弹载数据记录器的设计方案,该方案主要完成3路高速图像数据的接收,每个通道的数据带宽为每秒150Mbyte/s,存储容量为128GByte。设计选用Xilinx公司的FPGA作为主控制器,完成对高速数据的接收,缓存和存储。接收单元采用FPGA内部集成的高速串行收发器RocketIO GTP,单个链路的数据接收速率为3.125Gbps;缓存单元采用两片DDR2 SDRAM芯片对接收到的高速数据进行乒乓缓存;存储单元采用32片NAND FLASH构成存储阵列,对缓存后的数据进行存储。同时,该记录器能够对存储的数据进行事后读取并进行分析。     

一种新型Class AB开关电流存储单元的设计

设计了一种新型高性能Class AB开关电流(SI)第一代存储单元电路。电路由对称的电压反转跟随器(FVF)连接Class AB SI存储单元组成,输入级采用电流传输器结构,输出级采用可调共源共栅结构,电路具有误差小、功耗低、性能高等特点。基于此存储单元,设计了延时器和双线性积分器进行验证。电路采用SMIC 0.18μm工艺,在Spectre中进行仿真。结果表明,该存储单元具有较好的性能和应用价值。     

High-Voltage Analog System for a Mobile NAND Flash

High-voltage analog circuits, including a novel high-voltage regulation scheme, are presented with emphasis on low supply voltage, low power consumption, low area overhead, and low noise, which are key design metrics for implementing NAND Flash memory in a mobile handset. Regulated high voltage generation at low supply voltage is achieved with optimized oscillator, high-voltage charge pump, and voltage regulator circuits. We developed a design methodology for a high-voltage charge pump to minimize silicon area, noise, and power consumption of the circuit without degrading the high-voltage output drive capability. Novel circuit techniques are proposed for low supply voltage operation. Both the oscillator and the regulator circuits achieve 1.5 V operation, while the regulator includes a ripple suppression circuit that is simple and robust. Through the paper, theoretical analysis of the proposed circuits is provided along with Spice simulations. A mobile NAND Flash device is realized with an advanced 63 nm technology to verify the operation of the proposed circuits. Extensive measurements show agreement with the results predicted by both analysis and simulation.     

A source-line programming scheme for low-voltage operation NANDflash memories

To realize a low-voltage operation NAND flash memory, a new source-line programming scheme has been proposed. This architecture drastically reduces the program disturbance without circuit area, manufacturing cost, program speed, or power consumption overhead. In order to improve the program disturbance characteristics, a high program inhibit voltage is applied to the channel from the source line, as opposed to from the bit line of the conventional scheme. The bit-line swing is decreased to 0.5 V to achieve a lower power consumption. Although the conventional NAND flash memory cannot operate below 2.0 V due to the program disturbance issue, the proposed NAND flash memory shows excellent program disturbance characteristics irrespective of the supply voltage. A very fast programming of 192 μs/page and a very low power operation of 22 mW at 1.4 V can be realized in the proposed scheme     

A quick intelligent page-programming architecture and a shieldedbitline sensing method for 3 V-only NAND flash memory

This paper describes a quick intelligent page-programming architecture with a newly introduced intelligent verify circuit for 3 V-only NAND flash memories. The new verify circuit, which is composed of only two transistors, results in a simple intelligent program algorithm for 3 V-only operation and a reduction of the program time to 56%. This paper also describes a shielded bitline sensing method to reduce a bitline-bitline capacitive coupling noise from 700 mV to 35 mV. The large 700 mV noise without the shielded bitline architecture is mainly caused by the NAND-type cell array structure. A 3 V-only experimental NAND flash memory, developed in a 0.7-μm NAND flash memory process technology, demonstrates that the programmed threshold voltages are controlled between 0.4 V and 1.8 V by the new verify circuit. The shielded bitline sensing method realizes a 2.5-μs random access time with a 2.7-V power supply. The page-programming is completed after the 40-μs program and 2.8-μs verify read cycle is iterated 4 times. The block-erasing time is 10 ms     

Least Squares Based Coupling Cancelation for MLC NAND Flash Memory with a Small Number of Voltage Sensing Operations

The cell-to-cell interference (CCI) becomes the major source of distortion in NAND Flash memory as the feature size continuously decreases. As a result, removing the interference is crucial to ensure storage reliability while increasing the memory density. Along with the CCI, data retention also becomes a problem because only a small number of charges are stored at each cell. In this research, we propose a CCI cancelation algorithm that can remove or mitigate the CCI even when the data retention noise is fairly large. The coefficients for the proposed CCI canceler are adaptively found by minimizing the estimation error of the CCI, and the least squares method is used for the optimization. To reduce the number of voltage sensing operations, optimal multi-level memory sensing schemes for the proposed CCI canceler are studied. The developed algorithm is applied to both simulated and real NAND Flash memory, and it is demonstrated that the CCI canceler significantly lowers the bit error rate (BER) of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND Flash memory.     

基于FPGA和NAND Flash的存储器ECC设计与实现

针对以NAND Flash为存储介质的高速大容量固态存储器,在存储功能实现的过程中可能出现的错“位”现象,在存储器的核心控制芯片,即Xilinx公司Virtex-4系列FPGA XC4VLX80中,设计和实现了用于对存储数据进行纠错的ECC算法模块。在数据存入和读出过程中,分别对其进行ECC编码,通过对两次生成的校验码比较,对发生错误的数据位进行定位和纠正,纠错能力为1 bit/4 kB。ECC算法具有纠错能力强、占用资源少、运行速度快等优点。该设计已应用于某星载存储系统中,为存储系统的可靠性提供了保证。     

A 146-mm/sup 2/ 8-gb multi-level NAND flash memory with 70-nm CMOS technology

An 8-Gb multi-level NAND Flash memory with 4-level programmed cells has been developed successfully. The cost-effective small chip has been fabricated in 70-nm CMOS technology. To decrease the chip size, a one-sided pad arrangement with compacted core architecture and a block address expansion scheme without block redundancy replacement have been introduced. With these methods, the chip size has been reduced to 146 mm/sup 2/, which is 4.9% smaller than the conventional chip. In terms of performance, the program throughput reaches 6 MB/s at 4-KB page operation, which is significantly faster than previously reported and very competitive with binary Flash memories. This high performance has been achieved by the combination of the multi-level cell (MLC) programming with write caches and with the program voltage compensation technique for neighboring select transistors. The read throughput reaches 60 MB/s using 16I/O configuration.     

Development of 3T eDRAM gain cells for enhancing read margin and data retention

This paper presents three transistors (3T) based Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) cell in which noise, static power, and data retention voltage (DRV) have been reduced. The spesified parameters in the proposed eDRAM gain cell were improved by connecting the source of storage device to the read word line signal instead of supply voltage. As we all know, power consumption plays a vital role in VLSI design and thus, it is enumerated among the top challenges for the semiconductor chip industries. With the intention to maintain the performance of write operation, we diminish DRV and increase the read margin of eDRAM cell with our designed circuit which is introduced as “A Boosted 3T eDRAM gain cell”. It is a kind of eDRAM cell that utilizes a read word line (RWL) via three PMOS transistors instead of NMOS transistors. PMOS devices are preferred as they have radically less gate leakage current, which confer better results for data retention and thus, boost up the read margin of the cell. Simulation results have been obtained by using Cadence Virtuoso Tool at 45 nm technology for the proposed model. Based on simulation results we can conclude that the parameters of the proposed eDRAM gain cell essentially improved as compared with convertional eDRAM gain cell and the achieved parameters are as follows: static power is 0.767 pW, DRV is 142.009 mV and noise is 8.421 nV/Hz^1/2.     

High-performance 1-Gb-NAND flash memory with 0.12-/spl mu/m technology

A 1.8-V, 1-Gb NAND flash memory is fabricated with 0.12-/spl mu/m CMOS STI process technology. For higher integration, a 32-cell NAND structure, which enables row decoder layout in one block pitch, is applied for the first time. Resulting cell and die sizes are 0.076 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ and 129.6 mm/sup 2/, respectively. A pseudo-4-phase charge pump circuit can generate up to 20 V even under the supply voltage of 1.6 V. A newly applied cache program function and expanded page size of (2 k + 64) byte lead to program throughput of 7 MB/s. The page copy-back function is provided for on-chip garbage collection. The read throughput of 27 MB/s is achieved by simply expanding I/O width and page size. A measured disturbance free-window of 3.5 V at 1.5 V-V/sub DD/ is obtained.     

A 117-mm2 3.3-V only 128-Mb multilevel NAND flash memoryfor mass storage applications

For a quantum step in further cost reduction, the multilevel cell concept has been combined with the NAND flash memory. Key requirements of mass storage, low cost, and high serial access throughput have been achieved by sacrificing fast random access performance. This paper describes a 128-Mb multilevel NAND flash memory storing 2 b per cell. Multilevel storage is achieved through tight cell threshold voltage distribution of 0.4 V and is made practical by significantly reducing program disturbance by using a local self-boosting scheme. An intelligent page buffer enables cell-by-cell and state-by-state program and inhibit operations. A read throughput of 14.0 MB/s and a program throughput of 0.5 MB/s are achieved. The device has been fabricated with 0.4-μm CMOS technology, resulting in a 117 mm² die size and a 1.1 μm² effective cell size     

基于NAND Flash的海量存储器的设计

针对存储系统中对存储容量和存储带宽的要求不断提高,设计了一款高性能的超大容量数据存储器。该存储器采用NAND Flash作为存储介质,单板载有144片芯片,分为3组,每组48片,降低了单片的存储速度,实现了576 Gbyte的海量存储。设计采用FPGA进行多片NAND Flash芯片并行读写来提高读写带宽,使得大容量高带宽的存储器得以实现。针对NAND Flash存在坏块的缺点,提出了相应的管理方法,保证了数据的可靠性。