Sacrificial nitride and gate replacement

A method of forming a memory device comprising memory cells and bit line openings therebetween, comprising:

• forming charge storage layers on a semiconductor substrate, nitride layers on the charge storage layers, first poly layers on the charge storage layers, and bit line dielectrics in the bit line openings;
• removing the first poly layers to expose at least portions of upper surfaces of the nitride layers;
• oxidizing the nitride layers to form top oxides;
• and
• forming a second poly layer over the top oxides.

A method of forming a memory device comprising memory cells and bit line openings therebetween, comprising:

• forming charge storage layers on a semiconductor substrate, nitride layers on the charge storage layers, first poly layers on the charge storage layers, and bit line dielectrics in the bit line openings;
• removing the first poly layers to expose at least portions of upper surfaces of the nitride layers;
• oxidizing the nitride layers to form top oxides;
• and
• forming a word line over the top oxides.