Patent ID: 7504287

Claim:
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of: providing a structure on and in a semiconductor substrate, wherein the structure comprises: a first contact point and a second contact point disposed in a plane above the first contact point, a first material layer overlying an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate and the first contact point, and a second material layer overlying the first material layer; applying a photoresist layer over the second material layer, patterning the photoresist layer to leave remaining portions of the photoresist layer, and trimming the remaining portions of the photoresist layer to produce trimmed remaining portions of the photoresist layer which overlie the first contact point, and the second contact point and to expose portions of the second material layer; etching away exposed portions of the second material layer using the trimmed remaining portions of the photoresist layer as an etch mask to form sacrificial plugs comprising remaining portions of the second material layer; depositing an interlevel dielectric (ILD) layer comprising oxide over the sacrificial plugs and the remaining portions of the second material layer; polishing the ILD layer to remove portions of the ILD layer over the sacrificial plugs and the remaining portions of the second material layer; etching through the sacrificial plugs to form first contact holes that reach portions of the first material layer; and etching through portions of the first material layer to extend the first contact holes to produce final contact holes which extend to the first contact point and the second contact point.