FLASH MEMORY AS the FUTURE for DATA STORAGE the Big
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FLASH MEMORY AS THE FUTURE FOR DATA STORAGE ABSTRACT In the last decade, flash memory and its underlying NAND storage method (named after being the opposite of an “and” logic gate) have made and continue to make huge strides in data storage solutions with their lightning fast speeds. Flash memory is able to drastically improve computing speeds, allowing a computer to run up to one hundred times faster than the current standard, mechanical memory. These blazing speeds are only achievable since flash memory has no moving parts. They are composed of Floating Gate Transistors, organized into arrays of memory cells. When an electron is shot into a memory cell, it is read as either “1” or “0,” which is translated into data storage. However, flash memory has its place, just as mechanical memory does. In mass storage systems, the cost of the devices has a much higher priority than the access speed of the data, which is when mechanical memory prevails. In personal computing systems, the faster reading and writing speeds of flash memory is crucial because different applications are always being prompted, requiring data to be accessed. From a quality of life perspective, flash memory improves the sustainability of computing as a whole. When it takes less time to read and write files to a storage unit, the user can be more productive in a work environment. Additionally, the longer life and improved reliability of flash memory-based devices is environmentally conscious since it preserves the resources dedicated to building these devices. However, flash memory is not the standard for data storage currently, but as they become more available in consumer markets, the price will reach the point where it can be. KEY WORDS Key words- Data storage, flash memory, FGT, Hard Disk Drive, NAND, Solid State Drive The Big Thing in Computing (introduction section) Computers have been revolutionizing the way society functions ever since they were first invented. The latest and greatest improvement to computing speeds over the past decade has been flash memory Specifically, floating gate transistors (FGT) used inside of NAND (named after being the opposite of an “and” logic gate) memory cells have optimized the efficiency of computing speeds. Our focus will be on NAND-based flash memory, which is comprised of long series of FGTs reading either “1” or “0,” thus providing means of data storage. From the space station to the smartphone, many mainstays of the modern world have been invented or improved upon due to the inclusion of flash memory. Flash memory’s lack of moving parts allows it to be packed very tightly, which modern devices utilize in order to increase performance. Through the implementation of NAND memory cells containing FGTs, computing speeds have reached the fastest they have ever been. How It All Started As with most technologies, data storage did not start out on at cutting edge speed and capacity it has today. The first data storage solutions were massive enough to fill entire rooms. They also only contained the storage capacity that, today, would be filled by a few text files. However, as time has progressed, so have data storage solutions. In modern day, impressive amounts of data are able to be stored in handheld devices with speeds that blow away technological predecessors. Magnetic Memory The first steps in data storage were in the form of magnetic memory, which gets its name from utilizing magnets and mechanical parts to access the data. The earliest viable data storage device was the magnetic tape drive. According to the Computer History Museum, one of the earliest forms of the magnetic tape drive was the “Univac Uniservo tape drive,” introduced in 1951, which worked by reading thick bands of rotating magnetic tape. Each Univac tape weighed nearly three pounds and had a storage capacity of 1,440,000 single digit numbers, which translates to a bit larger than a single kilobyte [1]. To put this in perspective, a single Microsoft Word document takes up 22 kilobytes of memory today. Although it is a small amount of data to store, the magnetic tape drive was revolutionary since it was the first way to effectively store data. The second major step in data storage solutions was the floppy disk drive. According to the Computer History Museum, the first floppy drive available for consumers was the IBM “Minnow” floppy disk drive in 1968. It was a read-only drive with a capacity of 80 kilobytes [1]. At this point, data storage solutions becoming sensible to store reasonable amounts of information. The third revolutionary step in data storage is a precursor to a product that is still in use today. According to the Computer History Museum, the first Hard Disk Drive (HDD) was invented in 1980: “The disk held 5 megabytes of data, five times as much as a standard floppy disk” [1]. Even though this specific HDD was only able to hold five megabytes, it is the predecessor of HDDs that are still used today in computing systems. The Compact Disk (CD) is the next major step in data storage. According to the Computer History Museum, the CD was developed in 1983 with the purpose of music distribution. Later, in 1984, the CD-ROM was released, improving on the CD. A single CD- ROM could store an entire encyclopedia with over half of its storage space to spare [1]. At this point, data storage is easily compatible with computers to both read and write information. There have been countless innovations to magnetic memory since the CD-ROM. However, magnetic memory has been approaching a point where it can no longer increase computing speeds. Since it involves the use of moving parts, a magnetic memory drive is only as fast as its slowest moving component, which is where flash memory comes into play. Early flash Flash memory is, in a broad sense, the most recent and major improvement to data storage. The main idea behind flash memory is that it has no moving parts, which allows for considerably faster reading and writing speeds than magnetic memory. Flash memory is a recent innovation, but it has already gained the popularity to compete against the tried-and-true HDD. One of the first flash memory based innovations was the SD (Secure Digital) card. According to the Computer History Museum, the SD card was first introduced in 1994 with a tiny size and a capacity of 64 megabytes [1]. This allowed the cards to quickly become popular with cameras. Their small size and reliable construction fit perfect inside of cameras, giving them a greatly improved capacity to store photos and videos. A second major innovation that directly resulted from flash memory is the USB flash drive. According to the Computer History Museum, after being introduced to the consumer market in 2000, they quickly became the preferred method of transferring files between computers [1]. Since they are not prone to scratching (like a CD) or corruption from magnets (like a floppy disk), USB flash drives are a very reliable method of storing information both in short and long term settings. The aforementioned flash memory based innovations are both beneficial in various aspects of computing, but none is as all-encompassing as the Solid State Drive (SSD). These are the flash memory based counterpart to the HDD. Since there are no moving parts in an SSD, the computing speeds are considerably faster than HDD. In order to understand how flash memory improves reading and writing speeds, it is important to understand how the components that make it work. The Floating Gate Transistor Above shown are a regular transistor(left) [2] and a floating gate transistor(right) [3] Transistor: https://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/article_image s/2015/01/Transistor.png FGT: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Floating_gate_transistor- en.svg/220px-Floating_gate_transistor-en.svg.png THE TECHNOLOGY The Floating Gate Transistor (FGT) is the most basic and integral part of modern flash memory. Without the development of the FGT, neither NAND nor NOR flash memory would exist. The NAND and NOR memory types are named after the types of logic gates that they resemble, NAND resembles a “Not AND” gate and NOR resembles a “Not OR” gate. The FGT bears several differences from a normal transistor; while a normal transistor is designed to modulate an electric signal that passes through it by using current passed through its source to increase the current that flows through its emitter, the FGT is designed to both modulate an electric signal like a transistor and also contains the eponymous floating gate. This floating gate is added by taking a transistor’s original gate and completely insulating it from the rest of the transistor with a dielectric material. After the original gate is insulated, a second gate is added on top. This new addition is not insulated and will function normally, allowing the FGT to operate as a normal transistor, but now with the added ability to store a charge within its floating gate. By storing charge in the floating gate, the FGT is able to be used as a storage system for binary code by having a device read the voltage of what is stored within the floating gate. Then, having that device turn that reading into either a “0” or “1.” In order to store these electrons, the floating gate must be constructed of a dielectric material that can both have a voltage read from it and insulate the stored electrons from any interference by which the FGT might be affected. This interference can come from a variety of sources, including external magnetic, electric fields, or other FGTs located within the same device.