SanDisk 3D Assigned Three Patents

Pulse Reset for Non-Volatile Storage

SanDisk 3D, LLC, Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,270,210) developed by Roy E. Scheuerlein, Cupertino, CA, for a "pulse reset for non-volatile storage."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A non-volatile storage system includes a substrate, control circuitry on the substrate, a three dimensional memory array (above the substrate) that includes a plurality of memory cells with reversible resistance-switching elements, and circuits to SET and RESET the resistance-switching elements. The circuits that RESET the resistance-switching elements provide a pulse to the memory cells that is large enough in magnitude to SET and RESET the memory cells, and long enough to potentially RESET the memory cell but not long enough to SET the memory cells."

The patent application was filed on June 7, 2011 (13/154,795).

Programming Non-Volatile Storage Element
Using Current From Other Element

SanDisk 3D, LLC, Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,270,202) developed by Roy E. Scheuerlein, Cupertino, CA, for a "programming non-volatile storage element using current from other element."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Control circuitry provides control signals to a common X line and a set of Y lines to change a first data storage element of the multiple data storage elements from a first state to a second state by passing a current into the first data storage element from a different Y line through a different storage element. The control circuitry provides control signals to the common X line and the set of Y lines to sequentially change additional data storage elements of the multiple data storage elements from the first state to the second state by passing currents into the additional data storage elements from data storage elements of the multiple data storage elements that were previously changed to the second state and their associated different Y lines."

The patent application was filed on June 7, 2011 (13/154,832).

Two Pass Erase for Non-Volatile Storage

SanDisk Technologies Inc., Plano, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,264,890) developed by Nima Mokhlesi, Los Gatos, CA, Dana Lee, Saratoga, CA, and Anubhav Khandelwal, Mountain View, CA, for a "two pass erase for non-volatile storage."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Techniques are disclosed herein for erasing non-volatile memory cells. A subset of the memory cells are pre-conditioned prior to erase. The pre-conditioning alters the threshold voltage of the memory cells in a way that may help make later calculations more accurate. As an example, memory cells along a single word line might be pre-conditioned. After the pre-conditioning, the memory cells are erased using a trial erase pulse. A suitable magnitude for a second pulse is determined based on the magnitude of the trial erase pulse and data collected about the threshold voltage distribution after the trial erase. The second erase pulse is used to erase the memory cells. Determining an appropriate magnitude for the second erase pulse minimizes or eliminates over-erasing."

The patent application was filed on July 13, 2010 (12/835,423).