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Main Memory Technologies

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18 views2 pages

Main Memory Technologies

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kschauhan8007
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Main memory technologies

1) Ferrite-Core Memory: Before the discovery of semiconductor memories


ferrite-core memories were generally used as main memories in
computers. The basic principal on which ferrite-core memories work upon
are the magnetic properties of the ferrite material. A ring shaped ferrite
material which is used for storage of binary information is known as Core.
The magnetization of core can be performed in clockwise and anti-
clockwise direction which represents the Boolean logic 1 or Boolean logic 0.
For magnetizing the core, electronic current is passed and even on removal
of the current the existence of ferrite material stays in a definite magnetic
state. This indicates that the memories of a ferrite core are non-volatile in
nature. Large sized Random Access Memory (RAM) can be constructed
from this ferrite core memory by arranging them in multi-dimensional
arrays.

Disadvantages of Ferrite-Core Memories

i) It is bulky, slow and consumes a high amount of power.


ii) They were not compatible with processor as it is semi-conductor based
logic circuits.
iii) It is challenging due to difficult wiring patterns involved in it.
2) Semiconductor Memory: The semiconductor memories can be
categorized into two fundamental technologies:
i) Bipolar Semiconductor Memories
ii) Metal Oxide Semiconductor(MOS)

Now-a-days or a large size of Random Access Memory (RAM) chips, Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (MOS) is used. The categories of semiconductor memories are
divided into two types:

Magnetic storage:

 Stores data in magnetic form.


 Affected by magnetic fields.
 Has high storage capacity.
 Doesn't use a laser to read/write data.
 Magnetic storage devices are; Hard disk , Floppy disk, Magnetic tape etc.

Optical storage:

 Stores data optically, uses laser to read/write.


 Not affected by magnetic fields.
 Has less storage than a hard disk.
 Data accessing is high, compared to a floppy disc.
 Optical storage devices are; CD-ROM,CD-R, CD-RW, DVD etc.

There is also volatile memory. This is memory that loses its data once power is cut
off, while non-volatile memory retains data even without power.

* RAM (Random Access Memory) : Enables Read/Write of stored contents

* ROM (Read Only Memory) : Allows only Read operation

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