Would the HP-15C Limited Edition Firmware Age Away?

[jjohnson873]

(03-13-2018 09:08 PM)Dan Grelinger Wrote:  I assume that the HP-15C Firmware is in flash memory. From what I know about flash, it does have a limited storage life (10 years, 50 years?), but that this period is not influenced by power being applied or not.

Is there any danger of an accelerated firmware loss if the calculator is stored for an extended period of time without batteries installed?

Flash memory storage for most embedded microcontrollers is designed for +100 years before the charge on the memory cell will leak enough to flip a bit. It can be accelerated by high temperature, well above normal room temperatures. Normal operating voltages should not affect the flash memory cells. Of course if they took the calculator into outer space, a random alpha particle could have caused a single event upset and flipped a bit in the flash memory. ;-)