Half-metallic Heusler material Co(2)FeAl(0.5)Si(0.5) (CFAS) nano-particles (NPs) embedded in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures with thin HfO(2) tunneling and MgO control oxides were investigated. The CFAS NPs were prepared by rapid thermal annealing. The formation of well-controlled CFAS NPs on thin HfO(2) tunneling oxide was confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Memory characteristics of CFAS NPs in MOS devices exhibited a large memory window of 4.65 V. as well as good retention and endurance times of 10(5) cycles and 10(9) s, respectively, demonstrating the potential of CFAS NPs as promising candidates for use in charge storage. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.