A PADD, showing its isolinear chip.
The Starfleet-issued isolinear optical chip is a small, flat, rectangular unit featuring on board nanotech processors to aid in memory access and with a maximum capacity of 2.15 kiloquads. Though normally easily corrupted, chips may be coated with a layer of clear plastic for protection in evironments 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.