Charge storage properties of 20-30 nm gate oxides implanted with Si+ ions are investigated using MOS capacitors, single transistor structures and a non-volatile memory. The observed programming window can reach several volts for programming with electric fields of about 4-7 MV/cm. The structures exhibit good retention (250 degreesC, 280 h) and the endurance (>10(6) w/e-cycles) considerably exceeds the typical values of present EEPROM technologies. The capability of Si implanted SiO2 films as gate dielectrics for a real non-volatile memory is demonstrated for the first time by a 256 K-non-volatile static random access memory showing a programming window of larger than 1 V. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.