Patent ID: 8897070

Claim:
A 3D stacked non-volatile memory device, comprising: a substrate; a stacked non-volatile memory cell array carried by the substrate, the stacked non-volatile memory cell array comprising: (a) a plurality of U-shaped NAND strings, each U-shaped NAND string comprising, connected by a back gate, a selected column of memory cells and an unselected column of memory cells, (b) word line layers alternating with dielectric layers, each word line layer comprising a selected word line layer portion in communication with memory cells in the selected columns of memory cells, but not with memory cells in the unselected columns of memory cells, and an unselected word line layer portion in communication with the memory cells in the unselected columns of memory cells, but not with the memory cells in the selected columns of memory cells, (c) select gates for the selected columns and (d) select gates for the unselected columns; and circuitry in communication with the stacked non-volatile memory cell array, the circuitry provides a voltage to the selected word line layer portions, a voltage to an end of each selected column of memory cells and a voltage to each of the select gates for the selected columns to perform an erase operation which erases at least one memory cell in each selected column of memory cells, and provides a voltage to the unselected word line layer portions and a voltage to an end of each unselected column of memory cells and a voltage to each of the select gates for the unselected columns to not erase any memory cells in each unselected column of memory cells during the erase operation, the voltage applied to the select gates for the selected columns and the voltage applied to the end of each selected column place the select gates for the selected columns in a conductive state, and the voltage applied to the select gates for the unselected columns and the voltage applied to the end of each unselected column place the select gates for the unselected columns in a non-conductive state.