Direct nitrogen implant into Si substrate prior to gate oxidation has been proposed to grow multiple gate oxide thicknesses on a single wafer. In this letter, we have studied the reliability of gate oxide grown on nitrogen‐implanted Si substrate. The effects of implant doses, sacrificial oxide thicknesses, and gate oxide thicknesses on gate oxide reliability have been investigated. It was found that there is a tradeoff between oxide thickness control and gate oxide reliability. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.