The energy levels of defect states in amorphous silicon nitride have been calculated and the results are used to identify the nature of trap states responsible for charge trapping during transport and the charge storage leading to memory action. We argue that the Si dangling bond is the memory trap in chemical vapor deposited memory devices and is also the center in plasma‐deposited nitride responsible for hopping at low electric fields and for charge‐trapping instabilities in amorphous silicon‐silicon nitride thin‐film transistors.