16/146,238

Paragraph Number

39

The controller die 102 is configured to manage data stored in memory cells of the memory dies 104 and also to communicate with a host, such as a computer or electronic device. The controller die 102 can have various functionality in addition to the specific functionality described herein. For example, the controller die 102 can format the memory cells and/or the circuitry of the memory dies 104 to ensure the memory dies 104 operate properly, map out bad or defective memory cells, and allocate spare cells to be substituted for future failed cells. Some part of the spare cells can be used to hold firmware to operate the controller die 102 and implement other features. In operation, when a host needs to read data from or write data to the memory die 104, the host communicates with the controller die 102. If the host provides a logical address to which data is to be read/written, the controller die 102 can convert the logical address received from the host to a physical address in the memory dies 102. (Alternatively, the host can provide the physical address). The controller die 102 may also be configured to perform various memory management functions, such as, but not limited to, wear leveling (distributing writes to avoid wearing out specific blocks of memory that would otherwise be repeatedly written to) and garbage collection (after a block is full, moving only the valid pages of data to a new block, so the full block can be erased and reused).

Added by DJM 12 2021