Patent ID: 8853035

Claim:
A method of forming a semiconductor device comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate including an active region and at least one trench isolation region at a perimeter of the active region; forming a plurality of replacement gate structures on the active region of the semiconductor substrate, wherein at least one interface replacement gate structure of the plurality of replacement gate structures is formed having a first bottommost surface portion in direct physical contact with a topmost surface of the semiconductor substrate in the active region and a second bottommost surface portion in directly physical contact with a topmost surface of the at least one trench isolation region, and at least one device replacement gate structure of the plurality of replacement gate structures is formed on a portion of the active region that is separated from the at least one trench isolation region; forming embedded semiconductor regions in the active region of the semiconductor substrate between adjacent replacement gate structures of the plurality of replacement gate structures, wherein the embedded semiconductor region formed between the at least one interface replacement gate structure and the neighboring device replacement gate structure has an outermost edge that is laterally separated from the at least one trench isolation region by another portion of the active region of the semiconductor substrate underneath the first bottommost surface portion of the at least one interface replacement gate structure; replacing the at least one device replacement gate structure with a functional gate structure; and removing at least a portion of the at least one interface replacement gate structure.