Flash Memory: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

Flash Memory is a type of [[Read Only Memory|erasable ROM]] intended for use as [[Mass Storage]]. For note, ever since [[The Eighties]] there's virtually no ROM chips produced that cannot be somehow erased and rewritten. It's just that most of them could be only erased as a whole: either by exposure to the UV light or by the high voltage<ref>relatively, the voltages involved are ~10-15 V, but it's still rather large for the semiconductors</ref> pulse. After erasing the chip could be written to, quite similar to the normal [[RAM]], but it will hold the information after the power would be switched off. This technique of erasing and writing is commonly called "flashing" in the technical lingo, a rudiment of the "ancient" times when ROM chips were written by burning the specific connections inside them by these pulses. Flash memory takes its name from this process, but differs from these early chips by the simple fact that it can be "flashed" only partially, leaving other parts of the chip untouched.