We report on the electrical behavior of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) intervened metal-pentacene-insulator-semiconductor structures. The structure adopts polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and pentacene as gate insulator and semiconductor, respectively. On the PVA (250 nm) film which was spin-coated and UV cross-linked, 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane was functionalized for self assembling of the Au NPs monolayer. The devices exhibited clockwise hysteresis in their capacitance-voltage characteristics, with a memory window depending on the range of the voltage sweep. A relatively large memory window of about 4.7 V. which was deduced from control devices, was achieved with voltage sweep of (-/+)7 V. Formation of the monolayered Au NPs was confirmed by field effect scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.