Patent ID: 8184478

Claim:
A non-volatile storage system, comprising: a group of connected non-volatile storage elements including a particular non-volatile storage element and a first neighbor non-volatile storage element on a first side of the particular non-volatile storage element; a set of word lines connected to the group of connected non-volatile storage elements; and a managing circuit that includes one or more voltage providing circuits in communication with the set of word lines to provide signals to the group of connected non-volatile storage elements, the managing circuit boosts the group of connected non-volatile storage elements by applying a first boosting signal to the first neighbor non-volatile storage element of the group which has started but not completed full programming since a last erase process for the group and applying a second boosting signal to a plurality of other non-volatile storage elements of the group that have not started programming since the last erase process for the group, the first boosting signal is greater than the second boosting signal by at least a voltage offset based on the difference between an erased state and an intermediate programmed state of the first neighbor non-volatile storage element, the managing circuit applies a program signal to the particular non-volatile storage element of the group while the group is boosted in response to the first boosting signal and the second boosting signal such that the particular non-volatile storage element is not programmed in response to the program signal.