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