Memory Preconditioning for Data Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Volatile memory devices are vulnerable to data corruption when powered down, allowing nefarious actors to potentially extract information by transferring them to hostile systems without security measures, as charge leakage leads to data loss over time.
Innovation Solution
Memory devices are configured to automatically precondition all or a subset of the memory array to a desired state, such as a known or random state, during power-up, either by loading a predetermined state from a fuse array or corrupting data by firing multiple rows without powering sense amps, ensuring any valid information is overwritten upon power restoration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If volatile memory devices are powered down to save energy, then power consumption is reduced, but data security is compromised due to charge leakage allowing data extraction
Solution Approach 1:
The memory device automatically executes a precondition routine upon power-up that proactively corrupts or overwrites data in the memory array before any potential data extraction can occur. This preliminary action ensures that even if the device is powered down and later recovered, any persisted information is already corrupted, preventing data security vulnerabilities while allowing the device to be powered down for energy savings
2Object-affected harmful factors
If automatic precondition routine is executed upon power-up, then data security is improved by corrupting persisted information, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The memory device performs the preconditioning operation autonomously upon power-up without requiring external intervention or additional security hardware. The device uses its own internal resources (power-up sequence, memory array, and control logic) to automatically execute the data corruption routine, thereby improving data security while minimizing increases in device complexity
3Reliability
If memory array is preconditioned to desired state, then data integrity is enhanced by preventing data extraction, but operational time is increased due to additional power-up steps
Solution Approach 1:
The automatic precondition routine selectively corrupts only the portions of the memory array that contained persisted information, rather than uniformly processing the entire memory space. This partial action approach maintains data integrity for protected regions while minimizing the time penalty associated with comprehensive preconditioning of all memory cells
Data Source
AI summary
Memory devices and systems with automatic background precondition upon powerup, and associated methods, are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a memory device includes a memory array having a plurality of memory cells and a fuse array configured to store precondition data. The precondition data can identify a portion of the memory array, specify a predetermined precondition state, or a combination thereof. When the memory device powers on, the memory device can be configured to automatically retrieve the precondition data from the fuse array and/or to write memory cells in the portion of the memory array to the predetermined precondition state before executing an access command.