Patent ID: 7745870

Claim:
A floating gate device a substrate, comprising: a substrate; a gate dielectric overlying the substrate; a floating gate having a first floating gate portion and a second floating gate portion; wherein: the first floating gate portion overlies the gate dielectric, wherein the first floating gate portion is continuous; the second floating gate portion overlies the first floating gate portion, wherein the second floating gate portion includes a plurality of separate portions over the first floating gate portion; an etch stop layer between each of the plurality of separate portions of the second floating gate portion and the first floating gate portion that permits passage of charge during programming and erasing of the floating gate device; an interlevel dielectric overlying the separate portions of the second floating gate portion and the first floating gate portion; and a control gate overlying the interlevel dielectric, wherein the control gate extends down in a region between the separate portions and over the first floating gate portion.