Patent ID: 7453735

Claim:
A storage device comprising: programmable non-volatile memory cells of a type that store data as corresponding different levels of charge in charge storage elements, the charge storage levels of said elements being in a reset charge storage level distribution prior to the programming; and means for programming the charge storage elements in at least two passes, wherein during a first pass, selected ones of the elements are programmed into a first storage level distribution, and during a subsequent second pass, selected ones of the elements in the reset charge storage level distribution are programmed into a second storage level distribution and selected ones of the elements in the first storage level distribution are programmed into a third storage level distribution, the second storage level distribution being between the reset and the first storage level distributions, the first storage level distribution being between the second and third storage level distributions; wherein when there is insufficient host data to program at least one of the elements during the second pass, said at least one element having been programmed into the first storage level during the first pass, the programming means causes the charge storage level of said at least one element to be below the charge storage levels of the third storage level distribution after the second pass.