A method for making a non-volatile memory device provides a semiconductor substrate including a surface region and a tunnel dielectric layer overlying the surface region. Preferably the tunnel dielectric layer is a high-K dielectric, characterized by a dielectric constant higher than 3.9. The method forms a source region within a first portion and a drain region within a second portion of the semiconductor substrate. The method includes forming a first and second nanocrystalline silicon structures overlying the first and second portions between the source region and the drain region to form a first and second floating gate structures while maintaining a separation between the first and second nanocrystalline silicon structures. The method includes forming a second dielectric layer overlying the first and second floating gate structures. The method also includes forming a control gate structure overlying the first and second floating gate structures.