A nonvolatile memory cell has a charge trapping layer for the storage of charges thereon. The cell is a bidirectional cell in a substrate of a first conductivity. The cell has two spaced apart trenches. Within each trench, at the bottom thereof is a region of a second conductivity. A channel extends from one of the region at the bottom of one of the trenches along the side wall of that trench to the top planar surface of the substrate, and along the sidewall of the adjacent trench to the region at the bottom of the adjacent trench. The trapping layer is along the sidewall of each of the two trenches. A control gate is in each of the trenches capacitively coupled to the trapping layer along the sidewall and to the region at the bottom of the trench. Each of the trenches can stored a plurality of bits.