A memory circuit which includes: A synchronous memory cell array, configured to receive a clock signal and having address lines and bit lines. A margin agent, determining a status of the synchronous memory cell array based on a time duration between a transition of the clock signal and a change on a signal derived from a bit line due to a signaling on at least one of the address lines. In another aspect, a memory cell, having a bit line configured to provide data input/output to the memory cell may be provided with a comparator, comparing a voltage on the bit line with a reference voltage and indicating of a status of the memory cell thereby. Firmware may receive the indication of the status of a memory cell array, and transmit the indication, issue an alert, and/or reconfigure the memory circuit responsive to the status.

Methods and systems for testing memory systems are disclosed. A refresh rate for a test system including a number of memory devices may be controlled based on estimated power scenario of a memory system design. In response to performance of a number of refresh operations on the memory devices and based on the refresh rate, one or more conditions of the test system may be monitored to generate estimated performance data for the memory system design.

A method of operating a memory device that includes a plurality of stages each having a plurality of page buffers. The method including performing a verify operation of a first program loop from among a plurality of program loops, the verify operation of the first program loop including, performing a first off-cell counting operation on a first stage of the plurality of stages based on a first sampling rate to generate a first off-cell counting result; selectively changing the first sampling rate based on the first off-cell counting result to generate a changed first sampling rate; and performing a second off-cell counting operation on a second stage of the plurality of stages based on one of the first sampling rate and the changed first sampling rate to generate a second off-cell counting result.

Embodiments presented herein are directed to testing and/or debugging a memory device of a memory module (e.g., a dual in-line memory module (DIMM)) without having to remove the DIMM from a corresponding computing device and without having to interrupt operation of the computing device. A particular memory device (e.g., DRAM) may be identified for testing and/or debugging based on a failure message. However, the failure message may not identify a specific location or hardware of the module that caused the failure. Embodiments presented herein provide techniques to obtain data for analysis to determine and/or deliver a cause of the failure while reducing or eliminating downtime of the computing device. Test modes to do so may include a synchronous test mode, an asynchronous test mode, and an analog compare mode. A test mode may be selected based on the failure or a signal/function of the DRAM to be tested or debugged.

Adaptive read threshold voltage tracking techniques are provided that employ bit error rate estimation based on a non-linear syndrome weight mapping. An exemplary device comprises a controller configured to determine a bit error rate for at least one of a plurality of read threshold voltages in a memory using a non-linear mapping of a syndrome weight to the bit error rate for the at least one of the plurality of read threshold voltages.

A determination that a first programming operation has been performed on a particular memory cell can be made. A determination can be made, based on one or more threshold criteria, whether the particular memory cell has transitioned from a state associated with a decreased error rate to another state associated with an increased error rate. In response to determining that the particular memory cell has transitioned from the state associated with the decreased error rate to the another state associated with the increased error rate, an operation can be performed on the particular memory cell to transition the particular memory cell from the another state associated with the increased error rate to the state associated with the decreased error rate.

The present disclosure relates to a method for improving the safety of the reading phase of a non-volatile memory device including at least an array of memory cells and with associated decoding and sensing circuitry and a memory controller, the method comprising:

storing in a dummy row of said memory block at least a known pattern;

performing some reading cycles changing the read trimming parameters up to the moment wherein said known value is read correctly;

adopting the trimming parameters of the correct reading for the subsequent reading phases.

The disclosure further relates to a memory device structured for implementing the above method.

1. The present disclosure is drawn to, among other things, a method for accessing memory using dual standby modes, the method including receiving a first standby mode indication selecting a first standby mode from a first standby mode or a second standby mode, configuring a read bias system to provide a read bias voltage and a write bias system to provide approximately no voltage, or any voltage outside the necessary range for write operation, based on the first standby mode, receiving a second standby mode indication selecting the second standby mode, and configuring the read bias system to provide at least the read bias voltage and the write bias system to provide a write bias voltage based on the second standby mode, the read bias voltage being lower than the write bias voltage.

A memory device to program a group of memory cells to store multiple bits per memory cell. Each bit per memory cell in the group from a page. After determining a plurality of read voltages of the group of memory cells, the memory device can read the multiple pages of the group using the plurality of read voltages. For each respective page in the multiple pages, the memory device can determine a count of first memory cells in the respective page that have threshold voltages higher than a highest read voltage, among the plurality of read voltages, used to read the respective page. The count of the first memory cells can be compared with a predetermined range of a fraction of memory cells in the respective page to evaluate the plurality of read voltages (e.g., whether any of the read voltages is in a wrong voltage range).

Memory having a controller configured to cause the memory to determine a respective raw data value of a plurality of possible raw data values for each memory cell of a plurality of memory cells, count occurrences of each raw data value for a first set of memory cells of the plurality of memory cells, store a cumulative number of occurrences for each raw data value, determine a plurality of valleys of the stored cumulative number of occurrences for each raw data value with each valley corresponding to a respective raw data value of the plurality of possible raw data values, and, for each memory cell of a second set of memory cells of the plurality of memory cells, determine a data value for that memory cell in response to the raw data value for that memory cell and the respective raw data values of the plurality of valleys.