Patent ID: 8077524

Claim:
A non-volatile storage apparatus, comprising: a plurality of non-volatile storage elements on a common substrate region; and one or more managing circuits in communication with the plurality of non-volatile storage elements, the one or more managing circuits program the non-volatile storage elements and identify a subset of the non-volatile storage elements that are over programmed, the one or more managing circuits selectively perform one or more erase operations on the identified subset of non-volatile storage elements that are over programmed by boosting a first set of channel regions to a first voltage range for the identified subset of non-volatile storage elements without boosting a second set of channel regions to the first voltage range for non-volatile storage elements not identified to be over programmed and applying an erase enabling voltage to the identified subset of non-volatile storage elements that are over programmed and non-volatile storage elements not identified to be over programmed, the first set of channel regions and the second set of channel regions are part of the common substrate region wherein said one or more managing circuits apply said boosting by applying a boosting enabling voltage to bit lines for said identified subset of non-volatile storage elements, applying a boosting disabling voltage to bit lines for said non-volatile storage elements not identified to be over programmed, charging said common substrate region and applying voltage signals to unselected word lines for coupling said identified subset of non-volatile storage elements and said non-volatile storage elements not identified to be over programmed to said unselected word lines, and subsequent to said applying voltage signals to said unselected word lines, applying overdrive signals beyond said voltage signals to said unselected word lines to boost said first set of channel regions.