The electrical characteristics of rapid thermal nitrided and re‐oxidized low‐pressure chemical‐vapor‐deposited (LPCVD) silicon dioxide metal–oxide–silicon (MOS) structures were investigated. Both nitridation temperature and time affect the properties of the MOS structures as revealed by capacitance–voltage characteristics. Nitridation at 1000 °C for 15 s followed by re‐oxidation for 60 s at 1000 °C in an oxygen/nitrogen ambient was found to be superior to the same nitridation for 60 s with no re‐oxidation. Typical values of fixed charge and interface state densities for devices subjected to nitridation and re‐oxidation in a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen were 4×1010cm−2and 7×1010eV−1 cm−2, respectively. Avalanche electron injection using electric fields of 3–3.5 MV/cm produced positive shifts in flatband voltage for devices nitrided at 1000 °C for 15 s followed by re‐oxidation, whereas samples nitrided at 1000 °C for 60 s without the re‐oxidation yielded negative shifts in flatband voltage. An electron barrier height of 2.4 eV was found for these nitrided samples. These results strongly suggest that device quality MOS dielectrics for high‐voltage power MOS field‐effect‐transistors can be realized by nitridation/re‐oxidation of LPCVD oxide. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.