memory chip

A chip that holds programs and data either temporarily (RAM), permanently (ROM, PROM) or permanently until changed (EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory). See memory types and memory module.

A Wafer Full of Memory Chips

Each of the rectangles on this earlier silicon wafer is a four-megabit RAM chip. The wafer is the structural unit that all chips are fabricated on. The chips are cut out and placed into their individual housings. (Image courtesy of Motorola, Inc.)

Memory in the Mid-1960s

They were not chips, but magnetic cores, which this young lady is stringing by hand for the Univac 494 computer. One chip in the wafer in the previous picture above contains more memory than in the entire finished board of 72 squares (core matrices) in this picture. (Image courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library.)

Twelve Magnetic Cores

This shows the details of the wiring of 12 magnetic cores from the Whirlwind computer in the early 1950s. (Image courtesy of The MITRE Corporation Archives.)