Patents by Inventor Steven Michael Kientz

Steven Michael Kientz 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: 20240118807
    Abstract: A target block family of a plurality of block families is identified periodically every predetermined number of program erase cycles (PECs) of a memory device. Each block family includes a plurality of blocks. A respective temporal voltage shift of each block of a subset of blocks of the target block family from each die of a plurality of dies associated with the target block family is obtained. A respective die measurement for each respective die is obtained based on an average of the respective temporal voltage shifts of the subset of blocks from each die. Each respective die to a respective die family of a plurality of consecutive die families is assigned based on the respective die measurement for each respective die.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2023
    Publication date: April 11, 2024
    Inventor: Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20240079035
    Abstract: A processing device in a memory sub-system monitors a temperature associated with a block of a memory device, the block comprising a plurality of wordlines. The processing device further determines a first amount of time between when memory cells associated with a first wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written and when memory cells associated with a last wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written. That first amount of time is normalized according to the temperature associated with the block. The processing device further determines, based at last in part on the first amount of time and on an associated scaling factor, an estimate of when the block will reach a uniform charge loss state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Patrick R. Khayat, Steven Michael Kientz, Sivagnanam Parthasarathy, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Patent number: 11922041
    Abstract: An example method of threshold voltage offset calibration at memory device power up comprises: identifying a set of memory pages that have been programmed within a time window; determining, for each voltage offset bin of a plurality of voltage offset bins, a corresponding value of a data state metric produced by a memory access operation with respect to a memory page of the set of memory pages, wherein the memory access operation utilizes a voltage offset associated with the voltage offset bin; identifying a subset of the plurality of voltage offset bins, such that memory access operations performed using the corresponding voltage offsets produced respective values of the data state metric that satisfy a predefined quality criterion; selecting, among the subset of the plurality of voltage offset bins, a voltage offset bin that is associated with the lowest voltage offset; and associating the set of memory pages with the selected voltage offset bin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Chia-Yu Kuo
  • Publication number: 20240071440
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed including a memory device and a processing device operatively coupled to the memory device. The processing device can perform operations including periodically, at a predefined frequency, incrementing a value stored in an accumulator by a composite parameter value; responsive to receiving a program request specifying a data item to be programmed to a management unit of the memory device, obtaining a first value from the accumulator; storing the first value to a program reference table; programming the data item to the management unit; responsive to receiving a read request specifying the management unit, obtaining a second value from the accumulator; determining a read voltage value based on a difference of the first value and the second value; and performing a read operation, using the read voltage value, on the management unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2022
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Inventors: Robert W. Mason, Pitamber Shukla, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11914890
    Abstract: A memory sub-system to, in response to a power up, executing a first loading process to load a sequence of a set of trim values into one or more registers of the memory sub-system. In response to a request to execute a memory access operation, interrupting the first loading process. A second loading process including loading a portion of the set of trim values corresponding to the request is executed. The memory access operation is executed using the portion of the set of trim values loaded into the one or more registers during the second loading process. Following execution of the memory access operation, the first loading process is resumed to load one or more unloaded trim values of the sequence of trim values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Publication number: 20240045605
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device. In some embodiments, the processing device accesses a matrix of threshold voltage offset bins, where a first dimension of the matrix is temperature and a second dimension of the matrix is a temporal voltage shift (TVS) amount. The processing device measures a temperature value based on a reference temperature value for a block family. The processing device measures a TVS value of a voltage level within one or more memory cell of the block family. The processing device retrieves, from the matrix, a threshold voltage offset bin based on the reference temperature value and the TVS value and reads data from any page of the block family via application of a threshold voltage offset, specified by the threshold voltage offset bin, to a base read level voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2023
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11886726
    Abstract: An example memory sub-system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device. The processing device is configured to initialize a block family associated with a memory device; initialize a timeout associated with the block family; initializing a low temperature and a high temperature using a reference temperature at the memory device; responsive to programming a block residing on the memory device, associate the block with the block family; and responsive to at least one of: detecting expiration of the timeout or determining that a difference between the high temperature and the low temperature is greater than or equal to a specified threshold temperature value, close the block family.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Kishore Kumar Muchherla, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Bruce A. Liikanen, Peter Feeley, Larry J. Koudele, Shane Nowell, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11886712
    Abstract: A target block family of a plurality of block families is identified periodically every predetermined number of program erase cycles (PECs) of a memory device. Each block family includes a plurality of blocks. A respective temporal voltage shift of each block of a subset of blocks of the target block family from each die of a plurality of dies associated with the target block family is obtained. A respective die measurement for each respective die is obtained based on an average of the respective temporal voltage shifts of the subset of blocks from each die. Each respective die to a respective die family of a plurality of consecutive die families is assigned based on the respective die measurement for each respective die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20240004567
    Abstract: A processing device in a memory sub-system detects an occurrence of a triggering event, determines respective levels of charge loss associated with a first representative wordline of a block of a memory device and with a second representative wordline of the block of the memory device, and determines whether a difference between the respective levels of charge loss satisfies a threshold criterion. Responsive to determining that the difference between the respective levels of charge loss satisfies the threshold criterion, the processing device further determines that the block is in a uniform charge loss state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2023
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Inventors: Patrick R. Khayat, Steven Michael Kientz, Sivagnanam Parthasarathy, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Patent number: 11862274
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system including a memory device having a plurality of physical cells and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device. The processing device maintains association of block families with a first (second, etc.) bin of a plurality of bins, each of the plurality of bins associated with one or more read voltage offsets. The read voltage offsets are used to compensate for a temporal read voltage shift caused by a charge loss by memory cells of the block families. Responsive to an occurrence of a power event, the processing device performs diagnostics of one or more blocks of various block families and determines whether to maintain association of the block families with current bins of the respective block families or to associate the block families with different bins.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11854649
    Abstract: A processing device in a memory sub-system monitors a temperature associated with a block of a memory device, the block comprising a plurality of wordlines. The processing device further determines a first amount of time between when memory cells associated with a first wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written and when memory cells associated with a last wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written. That first amount of time is normalized according to the temperature associated with the block. The processing device further determines, based at last in part on the first amount of time and on an associated scaling factor, an estimate of when the block will reach a uniform charge loss state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick R. Khayat, Steven Michael Kientz, Sivagnanam Parthasarathy, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Patent number: 11853556
    Abstract: A system including a memory device and a processing device, the processing device to identify a first temperature level of a first set of memory blocks associated with the memory device, and a second temperature level of a second set of memory blocks associated with the memory device, and determine that a condition is satisfied based on a comparison of the first temperature level, the second temperature level, and an adjustable threshold level. In response to the condition being satisfied, the processing device is to combine the first set of memory blocks and the second set of memory blocks to generate a combined set of memory blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Larry J. Koudele, Shane Nowell, Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Patent number: 11842061
    Abstract: A system comprising a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device. The processing device is to perform operations including initializing a block family associated with the memory device and measuring an opening temperature of the memory device at initialization of the block family. Responsive to programming a page residing on the memory device, the operations further include associating the page with the block family. The operations further include determining a temperature metric value by integrating, over time, an absolute temperature difference between the opening temperature and an immediate temperature of the memory device. The operations further include closing the block family in response to the temperature metric value being greater than or equal to a specified threshold temperature value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230393745
    Abstract: A target block family of a plurality of block families is identified periodically every predetermined number of program erase cycles (PECs) of a memory device. Each block family includes a plurality of blocks. A respective temporal voltage shift of each block of a subset of blocks of the target block family from each die of a plurality of dies associated with the target block family is obtained. A respective die measurement for each respective die is obtained based on an average of the respective temporal voltage shifts of the subset of blocks from each die. Each respective die to a respective die family of a plurality of consecutive die families is assigned based on the respective die measurement for each respective die.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2022
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventor: Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230395099
    Abstract: A first analysis of each respective die of a multi-die memory device is performed. An equation to determine a respective temperature compensation (tempco) value for each respective die based on a number of program erase cycles (PECs) of the respective die based on the first analysis s determined. The equation for use in processing memory access requests directed to the respective die is stored. Whether to update the equation directed to the respective die based on a second analysis of the respective die is determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2022
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventors: Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230395170
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device, to perform operations including: determining whether a program erase cycle count associated with a segment of the memory device satisfies a first threshold criterion for triggering an offset bin update; responsive to determining that the program erase cycle count satisfies the first threshold creation, performing a calibration measurement of a center of a voltage valley for each state of each cell in the segment of the memory device; and updating a threshold voltage offset bin associated with the segment of the memory device based on a result of the calibration measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2023
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventors: Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11797205
    Abstract: A processing device in a memory sub-system detects an occurrence of a triggering event, determines respective levels of charge loss associated with a first representative wordline of a block of a memory device and with a second representative wordline of the block of the memory device, and determines whether a difference between the respective levels of charge loss satisfies a threshold criterion. Responsive to determining that the difference between the respective levels of charge loss satisfies the threshold criterion, the processing device further determines that the block is in a uniform charge loss state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick R. Khayat, Steven Michael Kientz, Sivagnanam Parthasarathy, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Publication number: 20230267968
    Abstract: A processing device in a memory sub-system monitors a temperature associated with a block of a memory device, the block comprising a plurality of wordlines. The processing device further determines a first amount of time between when memory cells associated with a first wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written and when memory cells associated with a last wordline of the plurality of wordlines of the block were written. That first amount of time is normalized according to the temperature associated with the block. The processing device further determines, based at last in part on the first amount of time and on an associated scaling factor, an estimate of when the block will reach a uniform charge loss state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Patrick R. Khayat, Steven Michael Kientz, Sivagnanam Parthasarathy, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Publication number: 20230267986
    Abstract: An example method of two-stage voltage calibration upon power-up of a memory device comprises: identifying a set of memory pages that have been programmed within a time window; responsive to detecting a power up event, performing a first calibration operation with respect to the set of memory pages to determine a first value of a data state metric; identifying, among a plurality of voltage offset bins, a first voltage offset bin corresponding to the first value of the data state metric; storing, in a temporary metadata table, a first record associating the set of memory pages with the first voltage offset bin; performing a second calibration operation with respect to the set of memory pages to determine a second value of the data state metric, wherein a second accuracy of the second calibration operation exceeds a first accuracy of the first calibration operation; identifying, among a plurality of voltage offset bins, a second voltage offset bin corresponding to the second value of the data state metric; and
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Max Kuo
  • Publication number: 20230268014
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device, to perform operations including detecting a power up event of the memory device, responsive to detecting the power up event, selecting an open block of the memory device, wherein the open block comprises a set of pages, determining, based at least in part on an analysis of the set of pages, whether the open block is valid for programming, and responsive to determining that the open block is valid for programming, keeping the open block open for programming.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Gary F. Besinga, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Steven Michael Kientz, Renato C. Padilla