The inventor of the Flash memory, currently one of the most exploited storage technologies, Dr Fujio Masuoka will settle the lawsuit filed against Toshiba, its ex-employer until 1994, receiving ¥87m or about $760,000.

Masuoka took legal action against Toshiba in 2004, saying that his inventions from the time he was employed, back in 1984, up until he resigned and became a professor at the Solid State Electronics Research Institute at Tohoku University, have brought a dramatically revenue increase for his employer.

Only last week, after so many years of arguing in the court, the two parties agreed to bring to an end this never-ending debate and settle for a ¥87m amount.

The NAND Flash market is one of the most lucrative segments and also the main source for the revenue increase. In order to understand the importance of Dr Fujio Masuoka's innovation you must know that: "The NAND Flash market is growing faster than any market in the history of semiconductors," according to Jim Handy, Semico's Director of Nonvolatile Memory Services. "Businesses of every sort want to tap into this growth, but don't know where to start. This report will rapidly bring them up to speed with the least effort."

But Toshiba has been surpassed by the ONFI Group, which features Intel Corp., Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Phison Electronics Corp. and Sony Corp., that intend to create the configuration of the open NAND flash interface which will enable NAND devices to self-describe their capabilities to the host, including memory layout and enhanced features.

"Establishing a standard interface technology will help companies accelerate time to market and enable new products to use NAND-based memory," said Celeste Crystal, senior research analyst for IDC. "Working together to establish an industry standard, such as ONFI, will help simplify the integration of NAND flash memory into PCs and consumer electronics".

According to industry research forecasts, the NAND market segment is estimated to reach $13 to $16 billion in 2006 and grow to approximately $25 to $30 billion by 2010.