In this work, the nanostructure-assisted "Al/SiO2/Ir-silicide-NCs/SiO2/P-Si-sub/Al" stack with iridium silicide nanocrystals (Ir-silicide-NCs) embedded between two SiO2 layers has been demonstrated in the application of nonvolatile memory for the first time. A significant memory window voltage of 14.2 Vat sweeps of +/- 10 V by capacitance-voltage measurement can be reached, when well-distributed Ir-silicide-NCs are observed in cross-sectional TEM examination. In this case, the trap density is estimated to be about 1.06 x 10(13) cm(-2), indicating a high trapping efficiency stack for nonvolatile memory application. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.