Prevention of oxygen absorption into high-K gate dielectric of silicon-on-insulator based finFET devices

A method of forming fin field effect transistor (finFET) devices, the method comprising:

• forming a plurality of semiconductor fins over a buried oxide (BOX) layer;
• performing a nitrogen implant so as to form nitrided regions in an upper portion of the BOX layer corresponding to regions between the plurality of semiconductor fins;
• forming, subsequent to the nitrogen implant, a gate dielectric layer over the semiconductor fins and entirely over the nitrided regions of the upper portion of the BOX layer, such that both horizontal and vertical portions of the gate dielectric layer are disposed over the nitrided regions;
• and
• forming one or more gate electrode materials over the gate dielectric layer;
• wherein the presence of the nitrided regions of upper portion of the BOX layer prevents oxygen absorption into the gate dielectric layer as a result of thermal processing.