Isolinear Optical Chip
Isolinear optical chips (or just Isolinear chips) are data storage devices utilized in various forms of technology containing isolinear circuitry. They are primarily used in Star Fleet computer systems, PADDs, tricorders, and other computer technology.
The isolinear chip replaced the duotronic circuit in 2329, and remains a major component of Federation computer systems. The major advance which came with isolinear chips was the combination of storage and processing power into a single totally integrated unit. Adding memory to a computer therefore automatically added more processing power, making upgrading a much easier task. Small numbers of isolinear storage units are used in both PADDs and tricorders, while large computer systems can mount hundreds or even thousands of chips, all running as parallel processor units, to give enormous storage and processing capacity.
The main computer system of the Galaxy class starship, as launched in the early 2360's, comprised three redundant computer cores. Each core was a ten story structure which had 2,048 dedicated storage modules containing 144 isolinear chips - a total of 294,912 chips per core. At 2.15 kiloquads per chip this gave a total storage capacity of 634,060.8 kiloquads per core, making the system one of the most powerful mobile computers in service. The Library Computer Access and Retrieval System user interface is widely used in Star Fleet, and allows the core memory to be accessed at 4,600 kiloquads per second. Accessing the entire memory of a core can therefore be done in under 2.5 minutes.
Though normally easily corrupted, chips may be coated with a layer of clear plastic for protection in environments more hostile than a computer core without affecting read and write capabilities; such ruggedized chips are commonly used in tricorders, PADDs, and other handheld devices with isolinear chip drives.
