A floating gate metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor memory device utilizing nanocrystalline indium tin oxide (ITO) layer embedded in a zirconium- doped hafnium oxide (Zr-doped HfO2 ) high-k gate dielectric has been fabricated and studied. The embedded ITO layer has crystalline structure with a grain size of about 5.4 nm. Capacitance-voltage and current-voltage measurements show positive charge trapping under the negative gate bias operation condition. Comparison to a control sample shows a fourfold increase (5.3 x 10(-12) cm(-2) to 1.4 x 10(-12) cm(-2)) in oxide trapped charge density and opposite trapped charge polarity, indicating that the observed effects are due to the inclusion of the ITO floating gate layer. The device maintains a large postwrite window (> 100 mV) over a ten- year period. Furthermore, the prominent charge transfer mechanism is direct tunneling. The negative differential resistance in the current-voltage curve shows the existence of the coulomb blockade effect that may limit negative charge storing and retention. The asymmetrical barrier of the Zr-doped HfO2 allows for the enhanced hole retention while eliminating the possibility of electron retention. (c) 2007 The Electrochemical Society.