In this study, we investigated effects of hydrogen annealing (HA) and plasma nitridation (PN) applied in order to improve $Si/SiO_2$ interface characteristics of TiN metal gate. In result, HA and PN showed a positive effect decreasing number of interface state $(N_{it})$ respectively. After FN stress for verifying reliability, however, we identified rapid increase of $N_{it}$ for TiN gate with HA, which is attributed to hydrogen related to a change of $Si/SiO_2$ interface characteristic. In contrast to HA, PN showed an improved Nit and gate oxide leakage characteristic due to several possible effects, such as blocking of Chlorine (Cl) diffusion and prevention of thermal reaction between TiN and $SiO_2$.