Both of the nitrogen implantation and threshold-voltage adjustment implantation introduce dopant atoms near the SiO2/Si interface during the fabrication of n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (n-MOSFET's) with gate oxide grown on nitrogen implanted silicon substrate. This work examined the impact of implantation sequence on the characterization of n-MOSFET's with gate oxide grown on nitrogen implanted silicon substrate. It is found that the sequence of nitrogen implantation and boron implantation affects both the electrical characteristics and hot-carrier properties of n-MOSFET's. It is found that no channel mobility degradation, less interface state density, lower subthreshold leakage current and better hot-carrier resistance can be achieved in the n-MOSFET's if the threshold-voltage adjustment implantation is performed after the nitrogen implantation during the gate oxide preparation. However lower channel mobility, higher interface state density, higher subthreshold leakage current and less hot-carrier resistance were observed if the implantation sequence was reversed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.