Programmable extended SEC-DED codes for memory errors

Redundant memory columns are an essential ingredient of memory design for yield and reliability. They are used either as spare columns for the replacement of completely defective regular columns or to store check-bits for error detection and correction codes. Column replacement allows to mask isolated malfunctioning storage cells as well. Unfortunately, the number of columns with defective storage cells that can be masked in this way cannot exceed the number of spare columns which is usually quite low. Here, we propose a way to increase the capacity of masking memory columns with isolated defective storage cells using spare memory columns. For this purpose, single error correction and double error detection (SEC-DED) codes already available for the protection against soft errors are extended such that all double-bit errors which affect a fixed sub-set of bit positions in the code words can be corrected. The cardinality of this sub-set is significantly higher than the number of spare columns. A bit-swapper is employed to map the bit positions that are protected by the extended SEC-DED code against double-bit errors to the memory columns with defective storage cells. In this way, single-bit soft-errors affecting any bit position can be corrected simultaneously with single-bit hard errors induced by any sub-set of memory columns. The bit-swapper can be dynamically reconfigured based on status information that designates the memory columns with defective storage cells. This facilitates the integration into built-in self-repair (BISR) schemes.