A controller of a memory system performs a soft decoding without additional reads. The controller applies each of read voltages to cells to obtain a corresponding cell count and corresponding data, stores the obtained data, and processes the stored data. The controller determines a set of parameters, based on (i) the read voltages, (ii) cell counts corresponding to the read voltages and (iii) a non-negative regularization parameter. The controller estimates an optimal read voltage based on the set of parameters, generates log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values using the processed data and the optimal read voltage and performs soft decoding using the LLR values.

The present technology relates to a semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the semiconductor memory device. The semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory blocks, which are assigned as a plurality of normal blocks, a plurality of first replacement blocks, a plurality of second replacement blocks, a first CAM block, and a second CAM block, a peripheral circuit configured to perform an erase operation and a program operation on the plurality of memory blocks, and a control logic configured to control the peripheral circuit to perform a growing bad block check operation on a target block during the program operation on a selected target block among the normal memory blocks.

Various embodiments enable age tracking of one or more physical memory locations (e.g., physical blocks) of a memory die, which can be from part of a memory device. In particular, various embodiments provide age tracking of one or more physical memory locations of a memory die (e.g., memory integrated circuit (IC)) using one or more aging bins on the memory die, where each aging bin is associated with a different set of physical memory locations of the memory die. By use of an aging bin for a set of physical memory locations, various embodiments can enable a processing device that interacts with a memory die, after the memory die has been subjected to one or more reflow soldering processes, to determine how much the set of physical memory locations have aged after the one or more reflow soldering processes.

A level count disparity is determined based at least in part on an expected count of a plurality of cells in a solid state storage and an observed count of the plurality of cells in the solid state storage, where the observed count is obtained from a read performed on the solid state storage using a previous read threshold. A next read threshold is determined based at least in part on the level count disparity. A read is performed on the solid state storage using the next read threshold to obtain read data and error correction decoding is performed on the read data.

Disclosed is an operation method of a controller which is configured to control a nonvolatile memory device. The method includes receiving cell counting data associated with selected memory cells included in the nonvolatile memory device from the nonvolatile memory device, adjusting operation parameters of the nonvolatile memory device based on the cell counting data, performing a valley search operation for the selected memory cells based on the adjusted operation parameters, and performing a read operation for the selected memory cells based on a result of the valley search operation.

A method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes at least the following steps: controlling the flash memory to perform a plurality of read operations upon a plurality of memory cells included in the flash memory; obtaining a plurality of bit sequences read from the memory cells, respectively, wherein the read operations read bits of a predetermined bit order from the memory cells by utilizing different control gate voltage settings; and determining readout information of the memory cells according to binary digit distribution characteristics of the bit sequences.

One or more data units at a memory device and that are associated with one or more dice of a die group comprising a plurality of dice are programmed. A voltage offset bin associated with the plurality of dice in the die group is determined based on a subset of dice of the die group.

A method of measuring durability of a nonvolatile memory device that includes a plurality of memory blocks, the method including: periodically receiving a read command for a first memory block among the plurality of memory blocks; periodically performing a read operation on the first memory block based on the read command; periodically outputting at least one cell count value associated with the first memory block based on a result of the read operation; and periodically storing durability information associated with the first memory block in response to a periodic reception of the durability information, the durability information being obtained by accumulating the at least one cell count value.

Disclosed are systems and methods for providing programming of multi-level memory cells using an optimized multiphase mapping with a balanced Gray code. A method includes programming, in a first phase, a first portion of data into memory cells in a first-level cell mode. The method may also include reading, from the memory cells, the programmed first portion of the data. The method may also include programming, in a second phase, a second portion of the data into the memory cells in a second-level cell mode, wherein programming the second phase is based on applying, to the read first portion of the data, a mapping from the first-level cell mode to the second-level cell mode. The mapping may be selected based on minimizing an average voltage change of the memory cells from the first to second phase while maintaining a balanced Gray code.

A controller controls an operation of a semiconductor memory device including a reference storage area and a normal storage area. The controller includes a power supply sensor, a command generator, and a refresh count manager. The power supply sensor generates a power-on signal indicating that a memory system including the controller is powered-on. The command generator generates a read command for reading reference data stored in the reference storage area in response to the power-on signal and transfer the read command to the semiconductor memory device. The refresh count manager analyzes the read reference data received from the semiconductor memory device and determines whether a threshold voltage distribution of memory cells included in the reference storage area is changed. The command generator controls the semiconductor memory device to perform a refresh operation on the reference data stored based on a result of the determination of the refresh count manager.