Specifications

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SMARTMEDIA
Toshiba took a very different approach to flash memory in 1994 when they introduced what they
called “solid-state floppy-disk cards” or Smart Media.
5
The card is small, just one-third the size of
a credit card and almost as thin because there is no controller chip in the card. The control of data
is left to the reading/writing device rather than to the card. Eliminating the control chip not only
allowed a reduction of the thickness of the card, it also reduced costs because the controller chips
reside in read/write devices instead of each card. The simplicity of the design is apparent in its
appearance. Rather than having pin connectors, the card has a flat gold electrode on its surface
that is divided into sections that take the place of pins. The decorative wavy lines on the flat
electrode are actually designed to add reinforcement to the surface. The electrode connects to a
single flash memory chip by means of bonding wires. The electrode, bonding wires, and the
memory chip are all submerged in a sealing bed of resin that is inserted into a thin, protective
plastic case. This method of assembly avoids the need to solder pins and connectors to a circuit
board and keeps costs low (Figure 8).
5
Toshiba’s idea may have been smart, but they should have called it “Smart Medium.” Media are always plural, whether they are
discs, news carriers, solid-state cards, or conductors of séances. A single one is a medium. One flash card is a medium. TV is a
medium as is a newspaper or a CD-R. The word is almost always misused, particularly by people in the media business who should
know better.
Figure 8