Asianometry The Evolution of Flash Memory
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Aug 17, 2025 Explore the incredible journey of flash memory, witnessing its price plunge from $80,000 to just two cents per gigabyte. Discover how the floating gate transistor revolutionized storage and how NAND flash technology emerged as a dominant player. Learn about the structural differences between NOR and NAND, and how these distinctions shape efficiency and scalability. Highlights include key milestones and innovations that propelled NAND into the spotlight, transforming both the storage industry and consumer technology.
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Flash's Incredible Price Collapse
- Flash memory prices fell from ~$80,000/GB in 1987 to about $0.02/GB today, showing dramatic scaling.
- NAND flash sustained Moore-like scaling long after logic slowed down.
Floating-Gate Is The Core
- The floating-gate transistor stores charge inside the transistor rather than a capacitor.
- Its isolated floating gate holds electrons for years, enabling non-volatile memory.
Early Floating-Gate Discovery
- Daewan Kang and Simon Shi described floating gates in 1967 and noted hour-long retention.
- Their paper foreshadowed non-volatile memories long before widespread use.