US 11,841,763 B2
Semiconductor memory devices with ECC engine defect determination based on test syndrome, test parity, expected decoding status and received decoding status
Yeonggeol Song, Seoul (KR); Sungrae Kim, Seoul (KR); Kijun Lee, Seoul (KR); Sunggi Ahn, Jinju-si (KR); Yesin Ryu, Seoul (KR); and Sukhan Lee, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Filed by SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR)
Filed on Nov. 26, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/535,762.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2021-0078606 (KR), filed on Jun. 17, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0405165 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 11/277 (2006.01); G06F 11/10 (2006.01); G11C 29/04 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 11/1044 (2013.01) [G11C 29/04 (2013.01); G06F 11/277 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A semiconductor memory device comprising:
a buffer die configured to communicate with an external device; and
a plurality of memory dies stacked on the buffer die and configured to connect to the buffer die through a plurality of through silicon vias (TSVs),
wherein each of the plurality of memory dies includes:
a memory cell array which includes a plurality of memory cell rows, each including a plurality of volatile memory cells coupled to a plurality of word-lines and a plurality of bit-lines;
an error correction code (ECC) engine, in a normal mode, configured to perform Reed-Solomon (RS) encoding on data stored in the memory cell array and configured to perform a RS decoding on data read from the memory cell array to correct an error of the read data by unit of a symbol; and
a test circuit, in a test mode, configured to:
generate a test syndrome and an expected decoding status flag indicating error status of the test syndrome;
receive a test parity data and a decoding status flag, the test parity data generated by the ECC engine based on the test syndrome, the decoding status flag indicating error status of the test parity data; and
determine whether the ECC engine has a defect based on comparison of the test syndrome and the test parity data and a comparison of the expected decoding status flag and the decoding status flag.