Computer

North Carolina Central University |

Flash Memory |

CIS 2400 Research Paper |

|

Mohammad Khan |

3/29/2012 |

Mohammad Atif Khan

North Carolina Central University

Durham, North Carolina

INTRODUCTION TO FLASH MEMORY:

Flash Memory is referred as “Flash Ram.” It is considered as one of the most innovative invention of the 20th century. It is widely used in transporting and storing data. It can be found in many widely used technologies like: cellular phones, gaming consoles, Apple IPAD, digital cameras, and many more. The main advantage of flash memory is the storage of data in the absence of power source (Miller 2007). It is a type of non-volatile memory that can be erased and re-programmed in units of memory called blocks (Collins, 1998). It is a form of Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory that allows multiple memory locations to be erased or rewritten in a single programming operation (Soft, 2008). Flash memory considers as an advantage over its predecessor, the floppy disk (Miller, 2007).

HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF FLASH MEMORY:

In 1984, Doctor Fujio Masuoka came up with the invention of flash memory that would revolutionize the world of technology. Doctor Fujio Masuoka was an employee at Toshiba. The term flash was not an original idea of Dr. Masuoka, but it was inspired by Mr. Shoji Ariizumi –colleague of Dr. Masuoka. (Miller, 2007). Mr. Arrizumi chose this term because of the erasure process of flash memory cells from a flashing camera. Dr. Masuoka portrays the glance of flash memory at the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) meeting in 1984, which was held in San Jose, California (Miller, 2007). Although Dr. Masuoka was an employee of Toshiba, the company that saw the immense potential of flash memory was Intel. In 1988, Intel introduced the first ever NOR type flash chip, and flash memory came into existence.

Although the first ever NOR- type flash memory came into its existence, but it has a...