Abstract: A method for die bonding includes positioning a dispenser in a die bonding apparatus, wherein the dispenser includes a reservoir having bonding adhesive therein including particles and a liquid carrier. The dispenser is moved to provide mechanical agitation to the dispenser for mixing the bonding adhesive into a homogeneous mixture of particles and the liquid carrier, wherein the bonding adhesive is not dispensed during moving. After the moving, the bonding adhesive is dispensed onto a bonding location on the workpiece without removing the dispenser from the die attach apparatus. An integrated circuit (IC) die is attached onto the bonding adhesive over the bonding location. The method can also include determining an amount of time elapsed after the last mixing of the bonding adhesive or the positioning of the dispenser in the die bonding apparatus, and automatically initiating movement for mixing only if the elapsed time exceeds a predetermined time.

Abstract: A flash-card reader improves transmission efficiency by using bulk streaming of multiple pipes. A bulk data-out pipe carries host write data to the card reader and can operate in parallel with a bulk data-in pipe that carries host read data that was read from a flash card attached to the card reader. Status packets do not block data packets since the he status packets are buffered through a separate status pipe, and commands are buffered through a command pipe. Flash data from multiple flash cards are interleaved as separate endpoints that share the bulk data-in pipe. A data in/out streaming state machine controls streaming bulk data through the bulk data-in and data-out pipes, while a status streaming state machine controls streaming status packets through the status pipe. Transaction overhead is reduced using bulk streaming where packets for several commands are combined into the same bulk streams.

Abstract: An electronic flash-memory card has additional pipes for commands and status messages so that data pipes are not clogged with commands and status messages, allowing for a higher data throughput. The command and status pipes are activated when a UAS/BOT detector detects that a host is using a USB-Attached-SCSI (UAS) mode rather than a Bulk-Only-Transfer (BOT) mode. The host can send additional commands and data without waiting for completion of a prior command when operating in UAS mode but not while operating in BOT mode. A command queue (CQ) in the device re-orders commands for accessing flash memory and merges data in a RAM buffer. Smaller 1 KB USB packets in the data pipes are merged into larger 8 KB payloads in the RAM buffer, allowing for more efficient flash access.

Abstract: A flash module has raw-NAND flash memory chips accessed over a physical-block address (PBA) bus by a NVM controller. The NVM controller is on the flash module or on a system board for a solid-state disk (SSD). The NVM controller converts logical block addresses (LBA) to physical block addresses (PBA). Data striping and interleaving among multiple channels of the flash modules is controlled at a high level by a smart storage transaction manager, while further interleaving and remapping within a channel may be performed by the NVM controllers. A SDRAM buffer is used by a smart storage switch to cache host data before writing to flash memory. A Q-R pointer table stores quotients and remainders of division of the host address. The remainder points to a location of the host data in the SDRAM. A command queue stores Q, R for host commands.

Abstract: A flash memory system stores blocks of data in Non-Volatile Memory Devices (NVMD) that are addressed by a logical block address (LBA). The LBA is remapped for wear-leveling and bad-block relocation by the NVMD. The NVMD are interleaved in channels that are accessed by a NVMD controller. The NVMD controller has a controller cache that caches blocks stored in NVMD in that channel, while the NVMD also contain high-speed cache. The multiple levels of caching reduce access latency. Power is managed in multiple levels by a power controller in the NVMD controller that sets power policies for power managers inside the NVMD. Multiple NVMD controllers in the flash system may each controller many channels of NVMD. The flash system with NVMD may include a fingerprint reader for security.

Abstract: A Low-power flash-memory device uses a modified Universal-Serial-Bus (USB) 3.0 Protocol to reduce power consumption. The bit clock is slowed to reduce power and the need for pre-emphasis when USB cable lengths are short in applications. Data efficiency is improved by eliminating the 8/10-bit encoder and instead encoding sync and framing bytes as 9-bit symbols. Data bytes are expanded by bit stuffing only when a series of six ones occurs in the data. Header and payload data is transmitted as nearly 8-bits per data byte while framing is 9-bits per symbol, much less than the standard 10 bits per byte. Low-power link layers, physical layers, and scaled-down protocol layers are used. A card reader converter hub allows USB hosts to access low-power USB devices. Only one flash device is accessed, reducing power compared with standard USB broadcasting to multiple devices.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for dispensing a volume of die attach adhesive onto a surface can include an optical system which images the dispensed volume of die attach adhesive. A two-dimensional area covered by the die attach adhesive and a die attach dispense pressure can be used as a comparison with a reference value to determine whether the volume of die attach adhesive dispensed is sufficient. The reference value can take into account viscosity changes of the die attach adhesive, so that the volume of die attach adhesive dispensed during production can be determined. The volume dispensed can be automatically adjusted in situ during production using a computer system.

Abstract: A flash controller has a flash interface accessing physical blocks of multi-level-cell (MLC) flash memory. An Extended Universal-Serial-Bus (EUSB) interface loads host commands into a command queue where writes are re-ordered and combined to reduce flash writes. A partial logical-to-physical L2P mapping table in a RAM has entries for only 1 of N sets of L2P mapping tables. The other N?1 sets are stored in flash memory and fetched into the RAM when a L2P table miss occurs. The RAM required for mapping is greatly reduced. A data buffer stores one page of host write data. Sector writes are merged using the data buffer. The data buffer is flushed to flash when a different page is written, while the partial logical-to-physical mapping table is flushed to flash when a L2P table miss occurs, when the host address is to a different one of the N sets of L2P mapping tables.

Abstract: A flash system has multiple channels of flash memory chips that can be accessed in parallel. Host data is assigned to one of the channels by a multi-channel controller processor and accumulated in a multi-channel page buffer. When a page boundary in the page buffer is reached, the page buffer is written to a target physical block if full, or combined with old data fragments in an Aggregating Flash Block (AFB) when the logical-sector addresses (LSA's) match. Thus small fragments are aggregated using the AFB, reducing erases and wear of flash blocks. The page buffer is copied to the AFB when a STOP command occurs. Each channel has one or more AFB's, which are tracked by an AFB tracking table.

Abstract: A smart flash drive has one or more levels of smart storage switches and a lower level of single-chip flash devices (SCFD's). A SCFD contains flash memory and controllers that perform low-level bad-block mapping and wear-leveling and logical-to-physical block mapping. The SCFD report their capacity, arrangement, and maximum wear-level count (WLC) and bad block number (BBN) to the upstream smart storage switch, which stores this information in a structure register. The smart storage switch selects the SCFD with the maximum BBN as the target and the SCFD with the lowest maximum WLC as the source of a swap for wear leveling when a WLC exceeds a threshold that rises over time. A top-level smart storage switch receives consolidated capacity, arrangement, WLC, and BBN information from lower-level smart storage switch. Data is striped and optionally scrambled by Redundant Array of Individual Disks (RAID) controllers in all levels of smart storage switches.

Abstract: A packaged electronic device includes a thickness shaped IC die including a top portion, top surface, active circuitry, bottom portion and bottom surface. A cross sectional area of the bottom surface is ?5% less than a cross sectional area of the top surface to provide a protruding lip having a bottom lip surface. A package substrate includes a top substrate surface including substrate bonding sites, a bottom substrate surface, and a die support structure on the top substrate surface having a gap region. The bottom lip surface of the IC die is secured to the die support structure and the bottom surface of the IC die extends below the die support structure into the gap region. Coupling connectors couple the bonding features on the IC die to the substrate bonding sites.

Abstract: A mold lock and a method of forming the mold lock are provided. The mold lock is used in an encapsulated semiconductor device and includes a neck and a shaped head integral with the neck. The mold lock can be formed to project above a support component, such as a heat spreader, of the semiconductor device and the neck is formed from the support component. The shaped head is of a greater dimension than the neck and can present a “T” shape in side view or a “Y” shape in side view. A base portion of the neck is seated within the support component. A method is provided for forming the described mold lock.

Abstract: A flash module has raw-NAND flash memory chips accessed over a physical-block address (PBA) bus by a NVM controller. The NVM controller is on the flash module or on a system board for a solid-state disk (SSD). The NVM controller converts logical block addresses (LBA) to physical block addresses (PBA). Data striping and interleaving among multiple channels of the flash modules is controlled at a high level by a smart storage transaction manager, while further interleaving and remapping within a channel may be performed by the NVM controllers. A SDRAM buffer is used by a smart storage switch to cache host data before writing to flash memory. A Q-R pointer table stores quotients and remainders of division of the host address. The remainder points to a location of the host data in the SDRAM. A command queue stores Q, R for host commands.

Abstract: A flash module has raw-NAND flash memory chips accessed over a physical-block address (PBA) bus by a NVM controller. The NVM controller is on the flash module or on a system board for a solid-state disk (SSD). The NVM controller converts logical block addresses (LBA) to physical block addresses (PBA). Data striping and interleaving among multiple channels of the flash modules is controlled at a high level by a smart storage transaction manager, while further interleaving and remapping within a channel may be performed by the NVM controllers. A SDRAM buffer is used by a smart storage switch to cache host data before writing to flash memory. A Q-R pointer table stores quotients and remainders of division of the host address. The remainder points to a location of the host data in the SDRAM. A command queue stores Q, R for host commands.

Abstract: A RAM mapping table is restored from flash memory using plane, block, and page addresses generated by a physical sequential address counter. The RAM mapping table is restored following a plane-interleaved sequence generated by the physical sequential address counter using interleaved bits extracted from the lowest bits of the logical block index. These plane-interleave bits are split into a LSB and a MSB, with middle physical block bits between the LSB and MSB. The physical sequential address counter generates a physical block number by incrementing the plane-interleave bits before the middle physical block bits, and then relocating the MSB to above the middle physical block bits. This causes blocks to be accessed in a low-high sequence of 0, 1, 4096, 4097, 2, 3, 4098, 4099, etc. in the four planes of flash memory. Background recycling and ECC writes are also performed.

Abstract: A flash memory controller on a PCIE bus controls flash-memory modules on a flash bus. The flash-memory modules are plane-interleaved using interleaved bits extracted from the lowest bits of the logical block index. These plane-interleave bits are split into a LSB and a MSB, with middle physical block bits between the LSB and MSB. A physical sequential address counter generates a physical block number by incrementing the plane-interleave bits before the middle physical block bits, and then relocating the MSB to above the middle physical block bits. This causes blocks to be accessed in a low-high sequence of 0, 1, 4096, 4097, 2, 3, 4098, 4099, etc. in the four planes of flash memory. A RAM physical page valid table tracks valid pages in the four planes, while a RAM mapping table stores the plane, block, and page addresses for logical sectors generated by the physical sequential address counter.

Abstract: A multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device has a flash memory with multiple partitions of storage. Some partitions are for different operating systems and store OS images. Another partition has a control program while a user partition stores user data and user configuration information. The control program can test the multi-partition USB device and instruct the host computer BIOS to mount a partition from its flash memory as a drive of the host computer. The host computer can then be rebooted. The OS image from the flash memory is loaded into main memory during rebooting, and the host computer executes a new operating system using the new OS image. The user can press buttons on the multi-partition USB device to select which OS to load, and to begin rebooting. Virus removal programs in the alternate OS can help recover from a virus in the primary OS.

Abstract: A Multi-Media Card (MMC) Single-Chip Flash Device (SCFD) contains a MMC flash microcontroller and flash mass storage blocks containing flash memory arrays that are block-addressable rather than randomly-addressable. An initial boot loader is read from the first page of flash by a state machine and written to a small RAM. A central processing unit (CPU) in the microcontroller reads instructions from the small RAM, executing the initial boot loader, which reads more pages from flash. These pages are buffered by the small RAM and written to a larger DRAM. Once an extended boot sequence is written to DRAM, the CPU toggles a RAM_BASE bit to cause instruction fetching from DRAM. Then the extended boot sequence is executed from DRAM, copying an OS image from flash to DRAM. Boot code and control code are selectively overwritten during a code updating operation to eliminate stocking issues.

Abstract: A packaged electronic device includes a thickness shaped IC die including a top portion, top surface, active circuitry, bottom portion and bottom surface. A cross sectional area of the bottom surface is ?5% less than a cross sectional area of the top surface to provide a protruding lip having a bottom lip surface. A package substrate includes a top substrate surface including substrate bonding sites, a bottom substrate surface, and a die support structure on the top substrate surface having a gap region. The bottom lip surface of the IC die is secured to the die support structure and the bottom surface of the IC die extends below the die support structure into the gap region. Coupling connectors couple the bonding features on the IC die to the substrate bonding sites.

Abstract: A flash-card reader improves transmission efficiency by using bulk streaming of multiple pipes. A bulk data-out pipe carries host write data to the card reader and can operate in parallel with a bulk data-in pipe that carries host read data that was read from a flash card attached to the card reader. Status packets do not block data packets since the he status packets are buffered through a separate status pipe, and commands are buffered through a command pipe. Flash data from multiple flash cards are interleaved as separate endpoints that share the bulk data-in pipe. A data in/out streaming state machine controls streaming bulk data through the bulk data-in and data-out pipes, while a status streaming state machine controls streaming status packets through the status pipe. Transaction overhead is reduced using bulk streaming where packets for several commands are combined into the same bulk streams.