Patent ID: 8728927

Claim:
A method of forming a borderless contact, the method comprising: providing a transistor structure, wherein the transistor structure includes a gate, a spacer on a sidewall of the gate, a hard cap above the gate, a source/drain region adjacent to the spacer, and an interlevel dielectric layer around the gate; forming a contact hole above the source/drain region, wherein a portion of the hard cap and a portion of the spacer is exposed by the contact hole; forming a protective layer on the exposed portion of the hard cap and the exposed portion of the spacer; deepening the contact hole by etching the interlevel dielectric layer while the spacer and the hard cap are protected by the protective layer, so that at least a portion of the source/drain region is exposed by the deepening of the contact hole; removing the protective layer; and forming a metal contact in the contact hole.