EEPROM Full Form

EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory. EEPROM is a type of non-volatile primary memory and modified version of EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) which uses electrical signals to erase and program the contents rather than UV signals which was used previously in EPROM. It is used as a chip in computers to store the digital data.

There are two types of EEPROM:

• Serial EEPROM
• Parallel EEPROM

History

EEPROM was developed in 1978 at Intel by George Perlegos. Being a non-volatile memory means it retains all the data even power is off and stores a large capacity of data or bits compared to EPROM. It is used as flash memories in its later version and also, to store BIOS of the computer.

Characteristics

• Less time consuming: EEPROM takes 5-10 milliseconds to erase the content electronically unlike, EPROM takes minutes to erase the same content using UV signals.
• Programmable and erasable content: It can reprogrammed n number of times and that life cycle has to be defined by the manufacture and it can be maximum of 1 million life cycles in modern EEPROMs.
• No detaching of chip: To reprogram or erase the content, there is no need to take the chip out of the computer.

Advantages

• Fast erasing of data as it uses electrical signals and can erase all contents or can erase by particular byte.
• Data stored is non-volatile and retains even if the power is off.
• Easy to reprogram without taking it out from computer and does not require any additional equipments for reprogramming.

Disadvantages

• Data retention problem as insulator used is not a perfect insulator and manufacture provides data retention upto 10 years.
• It requires different voltages for reading, writing and erasing the content.