Plasma processing of MOS devices has the potential to induce damaging current flow through thin gate oxides. Many studies have undertaken to measure this damage, using what at first appears to be a bewildering variety of measurement techniques. A natural question to ask is, which measurement technique is best? Can't the industry standardize on a particular technique? Actually, to study gate oxide damage, a variety of complementary techniques is needed. There are two broad families of gate oxide damage measurement techniques: those that characterize the charging source independent of the gate oxide, and those that characterize the effect of the damage by examining gate oxide degradation. To study the damaging potential of the plasma itself, measurement devices include EEPROM transistors, MNOS transistors, contact potential difference, and direct measurement techniques. To study the effect that plasma damage has on gate oxide, electrical parameters are measured appropriate for capacitors and transistors, which are typically connected to large, conductive "antennas" over thick field oxide. To select the proper measurement technique, one must first have a fundamental understanding of the damage mechanism. Charging during plasma processing arises from two main sources: plasma nonuniformity and electron shading. Plasma nonuniformity is relatively independent of the wafer, so a wide variety of techniques can be used to predict or detect damage resulting from it. However, electron shading is essentially an interaction with structures on the wafer, so damage detection is critically dependent on the measurement technique. The options for measuring gate oxide damage will be reviewed and compared, leading to a selection of "application-specific" damage measurement techniques.