Systems and methods for hardening flash memory to radiation

    公开(公告)号:US11164642B1

    公开(公告)日:2021-11-02

    申请号:US16273062

    申请日:2019-02-11

    IPC分类号: G11C16/34 G06F3/06 G11C16/16

    摘要: A method for radiation hardening flash memory performs accelerated aging on the flash memory by program-erase (PE) cycling the flash memory. Such accelerated aging induces trap states in the tunnel oxide layer of the flash memory, which results in improved ionizing radiation tolerance. The number of cycles used to harden a given memory cell is optimally determined in order to limit effects of the radiation hardening on the reliability of the cell.

    Systems and methods to convert memory to one-time programmable memory

    公开(公告)号:US11101009B1

    公开(公告)日:2021-08-24

    申请号:US16808924

    申请日:2020-03-04

    申请人: Biswajit Ray

    发明人: Biswajit Ray

    摘要: A memory system is configured to convert multiple programmable memory or a portion thereof to one-time programmable (OTP) memory. The system is configured to repetitively perform memory operations (such as program and erase procedures) on a portion of memory in order to induce accelerated degradation (aging) of select memory cells, thereby permanently changing the select cells, such that a pattern of the cells with degraded performance indicate a data value that has been permanently encoded into the memory.

    Random number generation systems and methods

    公开(公告)号:US11620108B1

    公开(公告)日:2023-04-04

    申请号:US16415774

    申请日:2019-05-17

    IPC分类号: G06F7/58

    摘要: A random number generation system may generate one or more random numbers based on the repeated programming of a memory, such as a flash memory. As an example, a control system may repeatedly store a sequence to a block of flash memory to force a plurality of cells into a random state such that, at any given instant, the values in the cells may be random. The control system may identify which of the cells contain random values and then generate based on the identified values a number that is truly random.

    Flash memory-based radiation sensing

    公开(公告)号:US10509132B1

    公开(公告)日:2019-12-17

    申请号:US15717598

    申请日:2017-09-27

    摘要: A radiation detection system may include a mobile device having a flash memory. The device may monitor various characteristics of the flash memory to determine when damage to the flash memory has occurred from radiation exposure. The device may associate damage to the flash memory with a radiation dose, and determine a level of radiation to which the memory, and thus the device, has been exposed. The device also may determine a length of time and locations where the radiation exposure has occurred. If the device determines that the level of radiation exposure exceeds a threshold associated with a safe level of radiation exposure for a human user, the device may generate an alert to the user.

    Systems and methods for improving radiation tolerance of three-dimensional flash memory

    公开(公告)号:US11728004B1

    公开(公告)日:2023-08-15

    申请号:US17394061

    申请日:2021-08-04

    IPC分类号: G11C29/42 G11C29/00 G11C29/52

    摘要: A system for improving radiation tolerance of memory senses an amount of radiation exposure and, based on the sensed amount of radiation exposure, determines whether to perform one or more techniques for mitigating the effects of the radiation exposure. As an example, the system may perform a data refresh operation by re-writing data that has been corrupted by radiation, or the system may adjust the reference voltage used to read memory cells. In another example, the system may perform a fault repair operation by re-programming cells that have erroneously transitioned from a program state to an erase state. The system may selectively perform different radiation-mitigation techniques in a tiered approach based on the sensed amount of radiation in order to limit the adverse effects of the more invasive techniques.

    Systems and methods for sensing radiation using flash memory

    公开(公告)号:US11626169B1

    公开(公告)日:2023-04-11

    申请号:US17560925

    申请日:2021-12-23

    申请人: Biswajit Ray

    发明人: Biswajit Ray

    IPC分类号: G11C16/26 G11C16/34 G11C16/14

    摘要: A radiation detection system may include a mobile device having a flash memory. The device may monitor various characteristics of the flash memory to determine when damage to the flash memory has occurred from radiation exposure. The device may associate damage to the flash memory with a radiation dose, and determine a level of radiation to which the memory, and thus the device, has been exposed. The device also may determine a length of time and locations where the radiation exposure has occurred. If the device determines that the level of radiation exposure exceeds a threshold associated with a safe level of radiation exposure for a human user, the device may generate an alert to the user.

    Systems and methods for sensing radiation using flash memory

    公开(公告)号:US11238943B1

    公开(公告)日:2022-02-01

    申请号:US17118135

    申请日:2020-12-10

    申请人: Biswajit Ray

    发明人: Biswajit Ray

    IPC分类号: G11C16/26 G11C16/34 G11C16/14

    摘要: A radiation detection system may include a mobile device having a flash memory. The device may monitor various characteristics of the flash memory to determine when damage to the flash memory has occurred from radiation exposure. The device may associate damage to the flash memory with a radiation dose, and determine a level of radiation to which the memory, and thus the device, has been exposed. The device also may determine a length of time and locations where the radiation exposure has occurred. If the device determines that the level of radiation exposure exceeds a threshold associated with a safe level of radiation exposure for a human user, the device may generate an alert to the user.