Patents by Inventor Woongrae Kim

Woongrae Kim 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).

  • Patent number: 11967354
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes: a memory cell region including normal cells and row-hammer cells coupled to each of a plurality of rows, wherein the row-hammer cells of a selected row are suitable for storing first data and second data, the first data representing a number of accesses to the selected row and the second data denoting whether to refresh second adjacent rows of the selected row; and a refresh control circuit suitable for: selecting a sampling address based on the first data read from a row corresponding to an input address when an active command is inputted, determining, in response to a refresh command, whether to refresh first adjacent rows of a target row corresponding to the sampling address, and determining, in response to the refresh command, whether to refresh second adjacent rows of the target row based on the second data read from the target row.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11960755
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device comprises: first storage logic configured to store, as first addresses, ‘K’ addresses having different values among input addresses applied during the enable period of a reference signal, second storage logic configured to store, as second addresses, ‘L’ addresses corresponding to a time point at which the enable period of the reference signal is ended among the input addresses, an order controller configured to determine a first output order of each of the first addresses based on a number of times each of the first addresses is repeatedly input, and to determine a second output order for outputting mixed addresses obtained by mixing the first addresses based on the first output order and the second addresses together, and refresh operation logic configured to apply the mixed addresses according to the second output order, to a target refresh operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Woongrae Kim, Kwi Dong Kim, Chul Moon Jung, Jeong Tae Hwang
  • Publication number: 20240120890
    Abstract: A sensing and amplifying circuit includes a driving voltage control circuit configured to control a voltage level of a driving voltage based on a surrounding temperature of the sensing and amplifying circuit, a delay control circuit configured to generate a line connection signal and an inverted line connection signal in response to a delay start signal by being supplied with the driving voltage, and a sense amplifier configured to perform a sensing and amplifying operation in response to the line connection signal and the inverted line connection signal. An interval between enable timing of the line connection signal and enable timing of the inverted line connection signal is adjusted as the surrounding temperature changes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2023
    Publication date: April 11, 2024
    Applicant: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Yeonsu JANG, Woongrae KIM, Jung Min YOON
  • Patent number: 11942138
    Abstract: A memory system includes: a memory device suitable for providing row-hammer data to set refresh rates for adjacent word lines of a target word line, and performing a target refresh operation on one or more word lines corresponding to a first row-hammer address according to a first target refresh command; and a memory controller suitable for generating a plurality of sampling addresses by sampling an active address, generating a plurality of counting values by comparing the sampling addresses with the active address, calculating a plurality of adjacent addresses corresponding to the sampling addresses based on the counting values and the row-hammer data, and providing the adjacent addresses as the first row-hammer address with the first target refresh command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Publication number: 20240056078
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a first circuit having a first power gating structure, a second circuit, and a third circuit having a second power gating structure that is different from the first power gating structure, and suitable for isolating the second circuit from the first circuit during a particular period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Woongrae KIM, Yoo-Jong LEE, A-Ram RIM
  • Publication number: 20240046977
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes: first and second pattern generation circuits generating first and second pattern signal for a sampling section; a first section control part generating a coarse section signal for a first section of the sampling section, according to the first pattern signal; a first filter part generating a first section extract signal by filtering the second pattern signal according to the coarse section signal; a second section control part generating a fine section signal for a second section of the sampling section, according to the first section extract signal; a second filter part generating a second section extract signal by filtering the second pattern signal according to the fine section signal; an output control circuit generating a sampling enable signal according to the first and second section extract signals; and a sampling circuit suitable for sampling an input signal according to the sampling enable signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2023
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Woongrae KIM, Byeong Yong GO, Chul Moon JUNG, Yoonna OH
  • Patent number: 11881249
    Abstract: A power control circuit includes a power control signal generation circuit configured to generate a voltage control signal according to a deep sleep command for operating a semiconductor apparatus in a deep sleep mode; a voltage divider circuit having a division ratio that is changed according to the voltage control signal, and configured to generate a divided voltage by dividing an internal voltage at the changed division ratio; a comparator configured to generate a detection signal by comparing a reference voltage to the divided voltage; an oscillator configured to generate an oscillation signal according to the detection signal; and a pump configured to generate the internal voltage according to the oscillation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Woongrae Kim, Byeong Cheol Lee, Se Won Lee
  • Patent number: 11869568
    Abstract: A memory device may include: a memory bank comprising a first cell mat used as a normal area and a second cell mat used as a row hammer area and a redundancy area; a target address generation circuit suitable for: saving, in the row hammer area, a count of a received address for an active operation on the memory bank by performing an internal access operation on the row hammer area during the active operation, and setting, a particular count which satisfies a preset condition, an address corresponding to the particular count as a target address; a refresh control circuit suitable for controlling a smart refresh operation on the target address; and a column repair circuit suitable for repairing, when a bit line of the normal area has a defect, the bit line of the normal area with a bit line of the redundancy area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Byeong Yong Go, Woongrae Kim, Yoonna Oh
  • Publication number: 20230402086
    Abstract: A memory system includes: a normal memory area suitable for storing normal data; a security memory area suitable for storing security data; a first row hammer detection circuit suitable for sampling and counting a portion of rows that are activated in the normal memory area to select first rows that need to be refreshed; and a second row hammer detection circuit suitable for counting all rows that are activated in the security memory area to select second rows that need to be refreshed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2023
    Publication date: December 14, 2023
    Inventor: Woongrae KIM
  • Patent number: 11838020
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a first circuit having a first power gating structure, a second circuit, and a third circuit having a second power gating structure that is different from the first power gating structure, and suitable for isolating the second circuit from the first circuit during a particular period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Woongrae Kim, Yoo-Jong Lee, A-Ram Rim
  • Patent number: 11830537
    Abstract: A memory core including a memory core including memory cells that are arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns; and a refresh target selection circuit suitable for storing an address and a risk score of each of activated rows among the rows, wherein the refresh target selection circuit is further suitable for increasing the risk score of a corresponding row whenever the corresponding row is activated, whenever a row at a ‘+2’ position of the corresponding row is activated, and whenever a row at a ‘?2’ position of the corresponding row is activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11823730
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes: first and second pattern generation circuits generating first and second pattern signal for a sampling section; a first section control part generating a coarse section signal for a first section of the sampling section, according to the first pattern signal; a first filter part generating a first section extract signal by filtering the second pattern signal according to the coarse section signal; a second section control part generating a fine section signal for a second section of the sampling section, according to the first section extract signal; a second filter part generating a second section extract signal by filtering the second pattern signal according to the fine section signal; an output control circuit generating a sampling enable signal according to the first and second section extract signals; and a sampling circuit suitable for sampling an input signal according to the sampling enable signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Woongrae Kim, Byeong Yong Go, Chul Moon Jung, Yoonna Oh
  • Publication number: 20230335175
    Abstract: A method for operating a memory includes: receiving an active command and a row address; confirming that a portion of columns of a first row corresponding to the row address is replaced with a portion of columns of a second row; activating the first row and the second row; confirming activation of a random pulse; randomly selecting one among the row address corresponding to the first row and a row address corresponding to the second row in response to the activation of the random pulse; and sampling the selected row address as a sampling address.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2022
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Inventors: Woongrae KIM, Yoonna OH, Chul Moon JUNG
  • Patent number: 11790975
    Abstract: A memory controller includes: a security level setting circuit suitable for setting a security level by monitoring a risk of a row hammer attack; and a refresh management command control circuit suitable for controlling the number of times that a refresh management command is to be applied to a memory per unit time according to the security level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11790965
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes an operation flag generation circuit configured to generate an operation flag at a time when a flag period elapses from a time when an internal setting signal is generated to perform a write operation accompanied by an auto-precharge operation; and an auto-precharge pulse generation circuit configured to generate an auto-precharge pulse by shifting the operation flag by a pulse generation period set by a period code based on divided docks generated by dividing an internal dock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11783884
    Abstract: A memory system includes: a memory controller suitable for: generating a first target address by sampling an active address according to an active command, providing the active address together with the active command, and providing a first target refresh command together with the first target address; and a memory device suitable for: generating a second target address by sampling the active address according to the active command, performing a target refresh operation on at least one word line corresponding to the first target address according to the first target refresh command, and performing the target refresh operation on at least one word line corresponding to the second target address according to a second target refresh command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Publication number: 20230298653
    Abstract: An operation method of a memory may include entering a self-refresh mode, increasing a level of a back-bias voltage in response to entering the self-refresh mode, performing self-refresh operations in a first cycle, confirming that the back-bias voltage reaches a level of a first threshold voltage, and performing the self-refresh operations in a second cycle longer than the first cycle in response to the confirmation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Publication date: September 21, 2023
    Inventors: Woongrae KIM, Chul Moon JUNG
  • Patent number: 11749333
    Abstract: A memory system includes: a normal memory area suitable for storing normal data; a security memory area suitable for storing security data; a first row hammer detection circuit suitable for sampling and counting a portion of rows that are activated in the normal memory area to select first rows that need to be refreshed; and a second row hammer detection circuit suitable for counting all rows that are activated in the security memory area to select second rows that need to be refreshed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11749371
    Abstract: A memory controller includes: a test module for generating a test command, a test address, and test data during a test operation; a refresh control module for receiving the test command and the test address as an active command and an active address, and generating a first target address by sampling the active address according to the active command, during the test operation; a command/address generation module for providing the active address together with the active command, and providing the first target refresh command together with the first target address to a memory device, while determining whether to repair the active address according to a repair control signal; and a repair analysis module for generating the repair control signal based on a comparison result of the test data and read data from the memory device, during the test operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Woongrae Kim
  • Patent number: 11705179
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a monitoring circuit suitable for generating a monitoring signal indicating whether a speed of a memory clock signal is changed based on a speed information signal representing speed information of the memory clock signal; a cycle control circuit suitable for generating a refresh cycle control signal for controlling a refresh cycle based on a system clock signal, the memory clock signal, the monitoring signal and a refresh flag signal; and a control circuit suitable for generating the memory clock signal and the refresh flag signal based on the speed information signal, the system clock signal and the refresh cycle control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Woongrae Kim, Tae-Yong Lee