Patents by Inventor Dengtao Zhao

Dengtao Zhao has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250095740
    Abstract: A block of non-volatile memory cells is divided into a first sub-block and a second sub-block. Programming non-volatile memory cells of the second sub-block after programming non-volatile memory cells of the first sub-block comprises boosting unselected channels in the second sub-block to a boosted condition; prior to boosting unselected channels in the second sub-block to the boosted condition, boosting unselected channels in the first sub-block to the boosted condition to pre-charge the channels of the second sub-block; and applying a program voltage to a selected word line of the second sub-block while channels in the first sub-block are in the boosted condition and channels in the first sub-block are in the boosted condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2023
    Publication date: March 20, 2025
    Applicant: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Cao, Dengtao Zhao, Peng Zhang, Xiang Yang
  • Publication number: 20240395330
    Abstract: A memory device is provided and includes a memory block that has a plurality of memory cells that are arranged in a plurality of word lines. The memory device also includes a plurality of word line switch transistors that are electrically coupled with the plurality of word lines, where the plurality of word lines are grouped into a plurality of zones based on a size of a word line switch transistor associated with each word line of the plurality of word lines. The memory device also includes a bitline biasing circuit for providing a negative biasing voltage to a bitline corresponding to a memory cell of the selected word line during programming of the selected word line and the bitline biasing circuit is configured to set a magnitude of the negative biasing voltage based on which zone of the plurality of zones the selected word line is in.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2023
    Publication date: November 28, 2024
    Applicant: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Cao, Weiyi Li, Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang
  • Patent number: 12148478
    Abstract: A non-volatile memory system comprises a plurality of non-volatile memory cells divided into three or more tiers. The memory cells can be programmed, erased and read. In order to achieve uniform erase speed for the three or more tiers, the erase process comprises applying a larger voltage bias to control gates of non-volatile memory cells in the outer tiers than the voltage bias applied to control gates of non-volatile memory cells in one or more inner tiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Xiang Yang, Masaaki Higashitani, Abhijith Prakash, Dengtao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20240371444
    Abstract: The memory device includes a memory block with a plurality of memory cells that are arranged in a plurality of word lines. The plurality of word lines include a selected word line, a pair of neighboring word lines that are immediately adjacent the selected word line, and a plurality of non-neighboring word lines that are not immediately adjacent the selected word line. Circuitry can perform a sensing operation on at least one memory cell in the selected word line. During the sensing operation, the circuitry is configured to apply a reference voltage to the selected word line, apply different first and second pass voltages to the neighboring word lines, and apply a third pass voltage that is different than the first and second pass voltages to the plurality of non-neighboring word lines. The circuitry is further configured to sense a threshold voltage of the at least one memory cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2023
    Publication date: November 7, 2024
    Applicant: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang, Peng Zhang
  • Patent number: 12112812
    Abstract: Non-volatile memory cells are programmed by pre-charging channels of unselected non-volatile memory cells connected to a selected data word line, boosting the channels of unselected non-volatile memory cells connected to the selected data word line after the pre-charging and applying a program voltage pulse to selected non-volatile memory cells connected to the selected data word line while boosting. The pre-charging includes applying pre-charge voltages to one set of data word lines and dummy word line(s) as well as applying overdrive voltages to another set of data word lines connected to already programmed memory cells. At the end of the pre-charging, the dummy word lines are ramped down to a resting voltage prior to lowering the data word lines to one or more resting voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Jiacen Guo, Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang
  • Patent number: 12094537
    Abstract: A system has been described that performs differential temperature compensation based on a differential between the temperature at time of programming and temperature at time of reading for a set of data. Differential temperature compensation is useful for bulk programming/reading (e.g., many pages of data) and/or programming/reading super pages of data (multiple pages residing on different memory die).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Dengtao Zhao, Sarath Puthenthermadam, Jiahui Yuan
  • Publication number: 20240145006
    Abstract: Memory cells of a second sub-block are programmed by pre-charging channels of unselected memory cells connected to the selected word line, boosting the pre-charged channels of unselected memory cells and applying a program voltage to selected non-volatile memory cells connected to the selected word line. The pre-charging includes applying one or more overdrive voltages to word lines connected to memory cells of a first sub-block to provide a conductive path from memory cells of the second sub-block through the first sub-block to a source line and maintaining the word lines connected to memory cells of the first sub-block at one or more overdrive voltages while ramping down signals at the end of the pre-charging. Dummy word lines, positioned between sub-blocks, are maintained at a resting voltage during the boosting in order to cut-off channels of memory cells in the second sub-block from channels of memory cells in the first sub-block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2023
    Publication date: May 2, 2024
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Peng Zhang, Yanli Zhang, Dengtao Zhao, Jiacen Guo
  • Patent number: 11972820
    Abstract: Memory cells are arranged as NAND strings to form a block divided into sub-blocks, and each NAND string includes a dummy memory cell connected to a dummy word line. Memory cells are programmed by applying programming pulses to a selected word line in a selected sub-block with program-verify performed between pulses. Unselected NAND strings are inhibited from programming by boosting channels of the unselected NAND strings in the selected sub-block from a positive pre-charge voltage to a boosted voltage. The pre-charging of the channels of unselected NAND strings is performed while lowering voltages at the end of program-verify by applying overdrive voltages to data word lines in a sub-block closer to the source line than the selected sub-block and lowering to a resting voltage a dummy word line between the sub-blocks prior to lowering to a resting voltage the data word lines in the sub-block closer to the source line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Jiacen Guo, Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang
  • Patent number: 11961573
    Abstract: A plurality of memory programming the memory cells to at least one programmed data state in a plurality of program-verify iterations. In each iteration, after a programming pulse, a sensing operation is conducted to compare the threshold voltages of the memory cells to a low verify voltage associated with a first programmed data state and to a high very voltage associated with the first programmed data state. The sensing operation includes discharging a sense node through a bit line coupled to one of the memory cells and monitoring a discharge time of the sense node. At least one aspect of the sensing operation is temperature dependent so that a voltage gap between the high and low verify voltages is generally constant across a range of temperatures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Abhijith Prakash, Xiang Yang, Dengtao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20240105265
    Abstract: A non-volatile memory system comprises a plurality of non-volatile memory cells divided into three or more tiers. The memory cells can be programmed, erased and read. In order to achieve uniform erase speed for the three or more tiers, the erase process comprises applying a larger voltage bias to control gates of non-volatile memory cells in the outer tiers than the voltage bias applied to control gates of non-volatile memory cells in one or more inner tiers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Publication date: March 28, 2024
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Xiang Yang, Masaaki Higashitani, Abhijith Prakash, Dengtao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20240079068
    Abstract: A storage device is disclosed herein. The storage device comprises: a non-volatile memory, where the non-volatile memory includes a block of N wordlines partitioned into a plurality of sub-blocks and the plurality of sub-blocks includes a first sub-block of a first subset of the block of N wordlines and a second sub-block of a second subset of the block of N wordlines; and control circuitry coupled to the block of N wordlines. The control circuitry is configured to: perform a program operation in a normal order programming sequence on the first sub-block; perform a sensing operation on the first sub-block using a reverse sensing scheme; perform a program operation in a reverse order programming sequence on the second sub-block; and perform a sensing operation on the second sub-block using a regular sensing scheme.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2022
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Dengtao Zhao, Deepanshu Dutta, Peng Zhang, Heguang Li
  • Publication number: 20240071529
    Abstract: Memory cells are arranged as NAND strings to form a block divided into sub-blocks, and each NAND string includes a dummy memory cell connected to a dummy word line. Memory cells are programmed by applying programming pulses to a selected word line in a selected sub-block with program-verify performed between pulses. Unselected NAND strings are inhibited from programming by boosting channels of the unselected NAND strings in the selected sub-block from a positive pre-charge voltage to a boosted voltage. The pre-charging of the channels of unselected NAND strings is performed while lowering voltages at the end of program-verify by applying overdrive voltages to data word lines in a sub-block closer to the source line than the selected sub-block and lowering to a resting voltage a dummy word line between the sub-blocks prior to lowering to a resting voltage the data word lines in the sub-block closer to the source line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2022
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Jiacen Guo, Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang
  • Publication number: 20240055059
    Abstract: Non-volatile memory cells are programmed by pre-charging channels of unselected non-volatile memory cells connected to a selected data word line, boosting the channels of unselected non-volatile memory cells connected to the selected data word line after the pre-charging and applying a program voltage pulse to selected non-volatile memory cells connected to the selected data word line while boosting. The pre-charging includes applying pre-charge voltages to one set of data word lines and dummy word line(s) as well as applying overdrive voltages to another set of data word lines connected to already programmed memory cells. At the end of the pre-charging, the dummy word lines are ramped down to a resting voltage prior to lowering the data word lines to one or more resting voltages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Jiacen Guo, Dengtao Zhao, Xiang Yang
  • Patent number: 11894071
    Abstract: A system has been described that performs differential temperature compensation based on a differential between the temperature at time of programming and temperature at time of reading for a set of data. Differential temperature compensation is useful for bulk programming/reading (e.g., many pages of data) and/or programming/reading super pages of data (multiple pages residing on different memory die).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Dengtao Zhao, Sarath Puthenthermadam, Jiahui Yuan
  • Patent number: 11791001
    Abstract: A memory system reads data from non-volatile memory cells using a set of read compare voltages to determine which data state the memory cells are in, where each data state is associated with predetermined data values. The read compare voltages are determined dynamically based on a difference between memory cell current at time of programming and memory cell current at time of reading.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Jiahui Yuan, Dengtao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20230298678
    Abstract: A memory system reads data from non-volatile memory cells using a set of read compare voltages to determine which data state the memory cells are in, where each data state is associated with predetermined data values. The read compare voltages are determined dynamically based on a difference between memory cell current at time of programming and memory cell current at time of reading.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2022
    Publication date: September 21, 2023
    Applicant: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Jiahui Yuan, Dengtao Zhao
  • Patent number: 11688469
    Abstract: To help reduce program disturbs in non-selected NAND strings of a non-volatile memory, a sub-block based boosting scheme in introduced. For a three dimensional NAND memory structure, in which the memory cells above a joint region form an upper sub-block and memory cells below the joint region form a lower sub-block, dummy word lines in the joint region act as select gates to allow boosting at the sub-block level when the lower block is being programmed in a reverse order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Dengtao Zhao, Gerrit Jan Hemink, Xiang Yang, Ken Oowada, Guirong Liang
  • Publication number: 20230197168
    Abstract: A system has been described that performs differential temperature compensation based on a differential between the temperature at time of programming and temperature at time of reading for a set of data. Differential temperature compensation is useful for bulk programming/reading (e.g., many pages of data) and/or programming/reading super pages of data (multiple pages residing on different memory die).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Dengtao Zhao, Sarath Puthenthermadam, Jiahui Yuan
  • Publication number: 20230186996
    Abstract: A system has been described that performs differential temperature compensation based on a differential between the temperature at time of programming and temperature at time of reading for a set of data. Differential temperature compensation is useful for bulk programming/reading (e.g., many pages of data) and/or programming/reading super pages of data (multiple pages residing on different memory die).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Yi Song, Dengtao Zhao, Sarath Puthenthermadam, Jiahui Yuan
  • Patent number: 11646081
    Abstract: Technology is provided for extending the useful life of a block of memory cells by changing an operating parameter in a physical region of the block that is more susceptible to wear than other regions. Changing the operating parameter in the physical region extends the life of that region, which extends the life of the block. The operating parameter may be, for example, a program voltage step size or a storage capacity of the memory cells. For example, using a smaller program voltage step size in a sub-block that is more susceptible to wear extends the life of that sub-block, which extends the life of the block. For example, programming memory cells to fewer bits per cell in the region of the block (e.g., sub-block, word line) that is more susceptible to wear extends the useful life of that region, which extends the life of the block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Xiang Yang, Peter Rabkin, Henry Chin, Ken Oowada, Dengtao Zhao, Gerrit Jan Hemink