Patent ID: 7697338

Claim:
A non-volatile memory system, comprising: a set of word lines; a set of non-volatile storage elements in communication with said word lines, said set including a first group of storage elements; and managing circuitry in communication with said set of word lines and non-volatile storage elements, said managing circuitry reads data from said non-volatile storage elements by reading one or more storage elements coupled to a selected word line using one or more read reference voltages while applying a read pass voltage to unselected word lines, said managing circuitry applies one or more programming voltage pulses to said set of word lines in order to soft program a first group of non-volatile storage elements coupled to said set of word lines, said managing circuitry applies a first voltage to said set of word lines followed by a second larger voltage to apply each of said one or more programming voltage pulses, said first voltage is different than said read pass voltage.