Patent ID: 8609524

Claim:
A method, comprising: forming a dielectric material laterally adjacent to a gate electrode structure of a transistor formed above a semiconductor region, said gate electrode structure comprising a high-k dielectric material and a placeholder material; forming a replacement gate electrode structure by replacing said placeholder material with a metal-containing material; forming a copper diffusion barrier layer above said dielectric material and said replacement gate electrode structure; forming an interlayer dielectric material above said copper diffusion barrier layer; forming a first contact opening that extends through said interlayer dielectric material, said copper diffusion barrier layer and said dielectric material so as to expose one of a drain region and a source region of said transistor, said copper diffusion barrier layer completely surrounding said first contact opening where said first contact opening extends therethrough, wherein forming said first contact opening comprises providing a first etch mask to form at least a portion of said first contact opening; forming a second contact opening that extends through said interlayer dielectric material and said copper diffusion barrier layer so as to expose said metal-containing material of said replacement gate electrode structure, wherein forming said second contact opening comprises providing a second etch mask to form at least a portion of said second contact opening; and after forming said first contact opening through said interlayer dielectric material, said copper diffusion barrier layer and said dielectric material, forming a first contact element that connects to said one of said drain region and said source region by filling said first contact opening with a contact material.