hot electron injection into the gate oxides of mosfet devices imposes limitations on the miniaturization of such devices in vlsi circuits . a buried channel with a surface spacer is provided to guard against hot electron trapping effects while preserving process and structure compatibility with micron or submicron vlsi devices . the channel current is redirected into a buried channel at a distance away from the interface in the vicinity of the drain region where the hot electron effect is most likely to occur . additionally , a surface implant is performed to improve any gate control that may be lost as a result of the buried channel so as to mitigate any degradition of the current - voltage characteristics of the device .