MEMORY HAVING A PORTION THAT CAN BE SWITCHED BETWEEN USE AS DATA AND USE AS ERROR CORRECTION CODE (ECC)

摘要

A memory has an ECC-enabled mode and an ECC-disabled mode in which the portion of the memory dedicated to use as storing ECC in the ECC-enabled mode is used for storing general purpose information (data) in the ECC-disabled mode. This is achieved in a non-volatile memory (NVM) by having the data and the portion of the memory with the corresponding ECC on the same word line. This is particularly important in an NVM because of complication relating to erase. In the ECC-enabled mode the ECC and corresponding data should be erased, programmed, and read together in order to avoid a significant layout and performance penalty. This is best achieved by having the ECC and the data on the same word line.