Patent ID: 11862249
Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 12:
13. A method of operating non-volatile memory, comprising:
pre-charging channels of NAND strings connected to a common set of control lines by applying positive voltages to the control lines and applying voltages to a source line and bit lines connected to the NAND strings, the control lines include data word lines and select lines, the data word lines include an edge word line, the edge word line is the last data word line at an end of the data word lines;
ramping down the positive voltages applied to the control lines, the ramping down comprising:
ramping down data word lines on a first side of the edge word line,
ramping down the edge word line, and
performing a staggered ramp down of at least three control lines on a second side of the edge word line by first ramping down a first control line on the second side of the edge word line followed by ramping down a second control line on the second side of the first control line followed by ramping down a third control line on the second side of the second control line; and

applying a program voltage to the edge word line in order to program memory cells selected for programming that are connected to the edge word line and are part of a first subset of the NAND strings.