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: 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
  • Publication number: 20230266901
    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: 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: 20230266904
    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: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Max Kuo
  • Publication number: 20230268009
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device including an block and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device, to perform operations including initiating a page scan with respect to a page of the block, determining whether to perform an erased page check, and in response to determining that the erased page check is not to be performed, performing a two-sided page scan with calibration feedback.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Christopher M. Smitchger, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Patrick R. Khayat, Hyung Seok Kim, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11735254
    Abstract: A method can include receiving a request to read data from a block of a memory device coupled with a processing device, determining, using a data structure mapping block identifiers to corresponding voltage distribution parameter values, a voltage distribution parameter value associated with the block of the memory device, determining a set of read levels associated with the voltage distribution parameter value, wherein each read level in the set of read levels corresponds to a respective voltage distribution of at least one memory cell comprised by the block, and reading, using the determined set of read levels, data from the block of the memory device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Shane Nowell, Steven Michael Kientz, Michael Sheperek, Mustafa N Kaynak, Kishore Kumar Muchherla, Larry J Koudele, Bruce A Liikanen
  • Patent number: 11721409
    Abstract: A system can include a memory device and a processing device to perform operations that include determining a calibration scan frequency based on an amount of elapsed time since a previous write operation performed on the memory device, determining, based on the calibration scan frequency, whether one or more scan criteria are satisfied, responsive to determining that the one or more scan criteria are satisfied, identifying one or more block families, and calibrating one or more bin pointers of each of the identified block families, wherein the calibrating comprises: for each of the identified block families, updating each of the one or more bin pointers of the identified block family based on a data state metric of at least one block of the identified block family.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu, Shane Nowell, Michael Sheperek, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230245708
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system that comprises a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device, to perform operations that include, responsive to detecting a triggering event, selecting a family of memory blocks of the memory device, the selected family being associated with a set of bins, each bin associated with a plurality of read voltage offsets to be applied to base read voltages during read operations. The operations performed by the processing device further include calibration operations to determine data state metric values characterizing application of read voltage offsets of various bins. The operations performed by the processing device further include identifying, based on the determined data state metrics, a target bin and associating the selected family with the target bin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11709775
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device, the processing device to perform operations comprising: measuring one of a temperature voltage shift or a read bit error rate of fixed data stored in the memory device in response to detecting a power on of the memory device, the fixed data having been programmed in response to detecting a power loss; estimating an amount of time for which the memory device was powered off based on results of the measuring; and in response to the amount of time satisfying a threshold criterion, updating a value for a temporal voltage shift of a block family based on the amount of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11704217
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device. The processing device performs operations comprising: identifying an operating temperature of the memory device; determining that the operating temperature satisfies a temperature condition; modifying a scan frequency parameter for performing a scan operation on representative blocks of a set of blocks in the memory device; and performing the scan operation at a frequency identified by the scan frequency parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Steven Michael Kientz, Shane Nowell, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Kishore Kumar Muchherla, Larry J. Koudele
  • Patent number: 11705193
    Abstract: A method can include receiving a request to read data from a memory cell of a memory device coupled with the processing device, determining a voltage distribution parameter value associated with the memory cell, determining a set of read levels associated with the voltage distribution parameter value, wherein each read level in the determined set of read levels corresponds to a respective voltage distribution of the memory cell, and reading, using the determined set of read levels, data from the memory cell. The voltage distribution parameter value can be determined by identifying a particular voltage distribution of the memory cell by sampling the memory cell at a plurality of voltage levels, and determining the voltage distribution parameter value based on the particular voltage distribution. The voltage distribution parameter value can be a voltage value that is included in the particular voltage distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Shane Nowell, Steven Michael Kientz, Michael Sheperek, Mustafa N Kaynak, Kishore Kumar Muchherla, Larry J Koudele, Bruce A Liikanen
  • Patent number: 11693745
    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 detect a power-up state of the memory device following a power loss event; detect a read error with respect to data residing in a block of the memory device, wherein the block is associated with a current voltage offset bin; and perform temporal voltage shift (TVS)-oriented calibration for associating the block with a new voltage offset bin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Shane Nowell, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230207043
    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: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2023
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230195366
    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: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2023
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Publication number: 20230195379
    Abstract: An average number of program erase cycles (PECs) for a memory device is identified. A set of trims associated with the average number of PECs is identified. One or more write trims associated with the memory device are set according to the set of trims. A write command directed to the memory device is received. The write command is executed according to the one or more write trims.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Steven Michael Kientz, Ugo Russo, Vamsi Pavan Rayaprolu
  • Patent number: 11675511
    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 perform operations comprising assigning a plurality of data streams to a block family comprising a plurality of blocks of a memory device; responsive to programming a first block associated with a first data stream of the plurality of data streams, associating the first block with the block family; and responsive to programming a second block associated with a second data stream of the plurality of data streams, associating the second block with the block family.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Peter Feeley, Larry J. Koudele, Shane Nowell, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Patent number: 11664080
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device having a plurality of dice and A processing device to perform operations, including determining a representative number of program-erase cycles performed across the plurality of dice. The operations further include tracking the representative number of program-erase cycles over time. The operations further include, in response to the representative number of program-erase cycles satisfying a first threshold criterion, adding an additional threshold voltage offset bin to a plurality of threshold voltage offset bins for the memory device, wherein each of the plurality of threshold voltage offset bins comprises a corresponding window of time after program of data to the memory device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Mustafa N. Kaynak, Steven Michael Kientz
  • Publication number: 20230153003
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device and a processing device to initialize a block family associated with the memory device and a timer at initialization of the block family. The processing device further stores, in non-volatile memory of the memory device, a value of the timer before powering down the system while the block family is still open. The processing device further detects a power on of the system and measures a data state metric associated with one or more memory cell of a page of the memory device that is associated with the block family. The processing device further compares a level of the data state metric to a temporal voltage shift function to estimate a time after program value of the page and increments the value of the timer, restored from the non-volatile memory, based on the time after program value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2023
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz, Kishore Kumar Muchherla
  • Patent number: 11636913
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system that comprises a memory device and a processing device, operatively coupled with the memory device, to perform operations that include, responsive to detecting a triggering event, selecting a family of memory blocks of the memory device, the selected family being associated with a set of bins, each bin associated with a plurality of read voltage offsets to be applied to base read voltages during read operations. The operations performed by the processing device further include calibration operations to determine data state metric values characterizing application of read voltage offsets of various bins. The operations performed by the processing device further include identifying, based on the determined data state metrics, a target bin and associating the selected family with the target bin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sheperek, Bruce A. Liikanen, Steven Michael Kientz