SanDisk Assigned Four Patents

Variable initial program voltage magnitude
for non-volatile storage

SanDisk Technologies, Inc., Plano, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,395,945) developed by Nima Mokhlesi, Los Gatos, CA, for "variable initial program voltage magnitude for non-volatile storage."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Multiple programming processes are performed for a plurality of non-volatile storage elements. Each of the programming process operates to program at least a subset of said non-volatile storage elements to a set of target conditions using program pulses. In one embodiment, a first programming pass includes soft programming and additional programming passes include the programming of data. In another embodiment, all of the programming process includes programming data. For at least a subset of said programming processes, a program pulse associated with achieving a particular result for a respective programming process is identified. The identified program pulse is used to adjust programming for a subsequent programming process."

The patent application was filed on Jan. 23, 2012 (13/356,325).

Enhanced storage device

Sandisk Corp., Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,386,678) developed by Yoram Cedar, Cupertino, CA, Micky Holtzman,and Yosi Pinto, Kfar-Vradim, Israel, for an "enhanced storage device."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A storage device includes one or more electrical contacts and one or more data paths through the electrical contacts. The one or more electrical contacts enable bits to be transferred into and out of the storage device via the one or more data paths. The storage device also includes a memory that stores an indication of a number of the one or more data paths. The storage device is configured to provide the indication via at least one of the one or more data paths while the storage device is operatively coupled to a host device to indicate to the host device the number of the one or more data paths."

The patent application was filed on Jan. 18, 2011 (13/008,813).

Junctionless TFT NAND flash memory

SanDisk Technologies, Inc. Plano, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,395,942) developed by George Samachisa, Johann Alsmeier, and Andrei Mihnea, San Jose, CA, for a "junctionless TFT NAND flash memory."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method of making a NAND string includes forming a semiconductor layer over a major surface of a substrate, patterning the semiconductor layer into an elongated nanowire shaped channel extending substantially parallel to the major surface of the substrate, forming a tunneling dielectric layer over the channel, forming a plurality of charge storage regions over the tunneling dielectric layer and undercutting the channel using the plurality of charge storage regions as mask. The channel has a narrower width than each charge storage region width, and an overhanging portion of each of the plurality of charge storage regions overhangs the channel. The method also includes forming a blocking dielectric layer over the plurality of charge storage regions, such that the blocking dielectric layer fills a space below the overhanging portion of each of the plurality of charge storage regions and forming a plurality of control gates over the blocking dielectric layer."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 2, 2010 (12/848,458).

Storage device and method for dynamic content tracing

SanDisk Technologies, Inc. Plano, TX, has been assigned a patent (8,365,279) developed by Fabrice E. Jogand-Coulomb, San Carlos, CA, for a "storage device and method for dynamic content tracing."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A storage device and method for dynamic content tracing are provided. In one embodiment, a storage device stores content having a plurality of sequences of data, each sequence of data having original data and at least one variation of the original data. The storage device receives an identifier of a host device and, for each sequence of data, selects either the original data or one of the at least one variation of the original data based on the identifier of the host device. The storage device then assembles a version of the content from the selections and provides the assembled version of the content to the host device. The assembled version of the content is unique to the host device and therefore can be used to trace the assembled version of the content back to the host device."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 29, 2009 (12/608,747).