Hydrogen barriers and fabrication methods are provided for protecting ferroelectric capacitors (C_FE) from hydrogen diffusion in semiconductor devices (102), wherein nitrided aluminum oxide (N—AlO_x) is formed over a ferroelectric capacitor (C_FE), and one or more silicon nitride layers (112, 117) are formed over the nitrided aluminum oxide (N—AlO_x). Hydrogen barriers are also provided in which an aluminum oxide (AlO_x, N—AlO_x) is formed over the ferroelectric capacitors (C_FE), with two or more silicon nitride layers (112, 117) formed over the aluminum oxide (AlO_x, N—AlO_x), wherein the second silicon nitride layer (112) comprises a low silicon-hydrogen SiN material.