The basic building block of a memory chip is a cell, a tiny circuit with a capacitor (which stores data as a charge) and one or more transistors (which activate data). The capacitor is either charged or discharged, corresponding to the two possible data values (“1” or “0”), where this smallest unit of data is known as a “bit”.

The two basic operations performed by a memory chip are " read ", in which the data contents of a memory word is read out (nondestructively), and " write " in which data is stored in a memory word, replacing any data that was previously stored there.

In a semiconductor memory chip, each bit of binary data is stored in a tiny circuit called a memory cell consisting of one to several transistors. The memory cells are laid out in rectangular arrays on the surface of the chip. The 1-bit memory cells are grouped in small units called words which are accessed together as a single memory address.

In addition, the memory chip can also expand the total memory capacity of the system by increasing the number of modules. This expansion provides more storage space and enables the computer to handle more data and tasks at the same time.