

NAND is better suited to serial rather than random data access.

A NAND flash cell is more compact and has fewer bit lines, stringing together floating gate transistors to increase storage density. NOR flash uses no shared components and can connect individual memory cells in parallel, enabling random access to data. NOR and NAND flash memory differ in architecture and design characteristics. There are two types of flash memory: NOR and NAND. This characteristic enables flash memory to provide persistent storage. Masuoka's colleague, Shoji Ariizumi, reportedly coined the term flash because the process of erasing all the data from a semiconductor chip reminded him of the flash of a camera.Įlectrons are trapped in the floating gate whether or not a device containing the flash memory cell is receiving power as a result of electrical isolation created by the oxide layer. Fujio Masuoka is credited with the invention of flash memory when he worked for Toshiba in the 1980s. NOR flash memory is often used to hold control code, such as the basic input/output system (BIOS), in a PC.įlash memory is also used for in-memory computing to help speed performance and scalability of systems that manage and analyze large sets of data. For instance, NAND flash-based solid-state drives are often used to accelerate the performance of I/O-intensive applications.

Flash memory retains data for an extended period of time, regardless of whether a flash-equipped device is powered on or off.įlash memory is used in enterprise data center server, storage and networking technology, as well as in a wide range of consumer devices, including USB flash drives - also known as memory sticks - SD cards, mobile phones, digital cameras, tablet computers and PC cards in notebook computers and embedded controllers. Flash memory is widely used for storage and data transfer in consumer devices, enterprise systems and industrial applications. Flash memory, also known as flash storage, is a type of nonvolatile memory that erases data in units called blocks and rewrites data at the byte level.
