The charging behavior of MNS (metal-nitride-silicon) and MNOS (metal-nitride-oxide-silicon) structures containing Si or Ge nanocrystals were studied by capacitance-voltage (C-V) and memory window measurements and by simulation. Both the width of hysteresis of C-V characteristics and the injected charge exhibited exponential dependence on the charging voltage at moderate voltage values, while at high voltages the width of hysteresis of C-V characteristics and the injected charge exhibited saturation. The memory window for reference MNS structure without nanocrystals was wider than that for reference MNOS structures. The presence of nanocrystals enhanced the charging behavior of MNOS structures, but in MNS structures nanocrystals exhibited the opposite effect. The main conclusion is that the presence of nanocrystals or other deep levels close to the Si surface enhances the charge injection properties due to the increased tunneling probability, but nanocrystals or other deep levels located far from the Si surface in the nitride layer do not enhance, but even can degrade the charging behavior by the capture of charge carriers. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.