US 11,874,736 B2
Calculating soft metrics depending on threshold voltages of memory cells in multiple neighbor word lines
Yonathan Tate, Kfar Saba (IL); and Nir Tishbi, Kfar Saba (IL)
Assigned to APPLE INC., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by APPLE INC., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 11, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/399,081.
Prior Publication US 2023/0052685 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 11/00 (2006.01); G06F 11/10 (2006.01); G11C 29/52 (2006.01); H03M 13/45 (2006.01); G11C 16/04 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 11/1068 (2013.01) [G11C 16/04 (2013.01); G11C 29/52 (2013.01); H03M 13/45 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A memory controller, comprising: an interface, configured to communicate with a plurality of memory cells organized in multiple Word Lines (WLs); and a processor configured to: read a Code Word (CW) of an Error Correction Code (ECC) from a group of multiple memory cells belonging to a target WL; calculate for a given memory cell in the group, (i) a first soft metric indicative of a first reliability level assigned to the given memory cell depending on a first threshold voltage of a first neighbor memory cell in a first WL neighboring the target WL, and (ii) a second soft metric indicative of a second reliability level assigned to the given memory cell depending on a second threshold voltage of a second neighbor memory cell in a second WL neighboring the target WL; calculate a combined soft metric based on both the first soft metric indicative of a first reliability level assigned to the given memory cell depending on a first threshold voltage of a first neighbor memory cell in a first WL neighboring the target WL and the second soft metric indicative of a second reliability level assigned to the given memory cell depending on a second threshold voltage of a second neighbor memory cell in a second WL neighboring the target WL, and assign the combined soft metric to the given memory cell; and decode the CW based at least on the combined soft metric, to produce a decoded CW.