Editing Flash memory (section)

===Background===
The origins of flash memory can be traced to the development of the [[Floating-gate MOSFET|floating-gate MOSFET (FGMOS)]], also known as the floating-gate transistor.<ref name="economist">{{Cite news |date=11 March 2006 |title=Not just a flash in the pan |agency=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2006/03/11/not-just-a-flash-in-the-pan |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=10 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121163825/https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2006/03/11/not-just-a-flash-in-the-pan |archive-date=21 November 2023 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] }}</ref><ref name="Bez">{{cite book |last1=Bez |first1=R. |last2=Pirovano |first2=A. |title=Advances in Non-Volatile Memory and Storage Technology |date=2019 |publisher=[[Woodhead Publishing]] |isbn=9780081025857}}</ref> The original [[MOSFET]] was invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960, after Frosch and Derick discovered surface passivation and used their discovery to create the first planar transistors.<ref>{{Cite patent|number=US2802760A|title=Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion|gdate=1957-08-13|invent1=Lincoln|invent2=Frosch|inventor1-first=Derick|inventor2-first=Carl J.|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2802760A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=KAHNG |first=D. |date=1961 |title=Silicon-Silicon Dioxide Surface Device |url=https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |journal=Technical Memorandum of Bell Laboratories|pages=583–596 |doi=10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |isbn=978-981-02-0209-5 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lojek |first=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |page=321}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ligenza |first1=J.R. |last2=Spitzer |first2=W.G. |date=1960 |title=The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022369760902195 |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |language=en |volume=14 |pages=131–136 |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5|bibcode=1960JPCS...14..131L |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Lojek12022">{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783540342588 |page=120}}</ref> [[Dawon Kahng]] went on to develop a variation, the floating-gate MOSFET, with Taiwanese-American engineer [[Simon Min Sze]] at Bell Labs in 1967.<ref name="computerhistory1971">{{Cite web |date=11 June 2018 |title=1971: Reusable semiconductor ROM introduced |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/reusable-semiconductor-rom-introduced/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810204956/https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/reusable-semiconductor-rom-introduced/ |archive-date=10 August 2023 |access-date=19 June 2019 |website=The Storage Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] }}</ref> They proposed that it could be used as floating-gate [[memory cell (computing)|memory cells]] for storing a form of programmable [[read-only memory]] ([[Programmable read-only memory|PROM]]) that is both non-volatile and re-programmable.<ref name="computerhistory1971"/>

Early types of floating-gate memory included EPROM (erasable PROM) and EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM) in the 1970s.<ref name="computerhistory1971" /> However, early floating-gate memory required engineers to build a memory cell for each [[bit]] of data, which proved to be cumbersome,<ref name="forbes">{{cite web |last=Fulford |first=Adel |title=Unsung hero |work=Forbes |date=24 June 2002 |access-date=18 March 2008 |url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0624/030.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303205125/http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0624/030.html |archive-date=3 March 2008}}</ref> slow,<ref name="howstuffworks-rom">{{Cite web |last=Tyson |first=Jeff |date=29 August 2000 |title=How ROM Works |url=https://computer.howstuffworks.com/rom.htm#pt5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202082951/https://computer.howstuffworks.com/rom.htm#pt5 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |access-date=10 September 2019 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] }}</ref> and expensive, restricting floating-gate memory to niche applications in the 1970s, such as [[military equipment]] and the earliest experimental [[mobile phones]].<ref name="economist" />