. . "A transistor comprising:a source region; a drain region; a channel region between the source and drain regions; an electrically isolated floating gate separated from the channel region by an insulator, the floating gate formed of a silicon oxycarbide compound SiO.sub.(2-2w) Cw, wherein w is a value approximately between 0 and 1.0; and a control gate, separated from the floating gate by an intergat" . .