flash memory was invented by a gentleman named fujio masuoka who was a doctor working for toshiba in 1984, when he came up with this invention. the name for the memory itself was actually suggested by dr masuoka’s assistant, mr. shoji ariizumi because he said that the erasure process of the memory contents reminded him of a flash camera.
dr. masuoka presented his invention at the annual ieee meeting of integrated electronics devices in 1984 that was held in san jose, california. intel, one of the flash drivers biggest manufacturers of computer chips, saw the amazing potential of this invention and unleashed its first nor type flash chip to the public in 1988.
in 1989 nor flash memory had some company in the form of nand flash memory. this was developed at both toshiba and samsung. the benefits of this type of flash memory + storage over nor flash memory is that it has faster erase and write times, it’s density is higher, and the cost per bit is much electric calculator lower. it also neither has ten times the endurance of nor flashes memory.
the first nand removable media format was what was called smart media electricals . after that a number of others followed such as mmc, secure digital, memory stick, and x-d picture cards. today a new generation of these formats is busting onto the scene with the rs-mmc or reduced size memory card, the transflash, the minisd, which is a variation of secure digital, and the new usb hybrid flash drives and intelligent stick. these new formats are very small, usually less than 4 centimeters squared
