US Patent 7539061 Method of programming flash memory device

At the time of a program of a NAND flash memory device, a re-program is performed on a cell connected to the last word line after program and program verification are completed. Thus, threshold voltage distributions of the cell connected to the last word line can be controlled to have a narrow width in the same manner as that of other cells. It is therefore possible to secure the read margin of a chip and to improve the yield. Accordingly, the durability and reliability of devices can be improved by threshold voltage distributions controlled to have a narrow width as described above.