Patent ID: 7528451

Claim:
A gate conductor for a transistor pair including an n-type field effect transistor (“NFET”) having an NFET active semiconductor region and a p-type field effect transistor (“PFET”) having a PFET active semiconductor region, the NFET and PFET active semiconductor regions being separated by an isolation region, the gate conductor comprising: an NFET gate extending in a first direction over the NFET active semiconductor region; a PFET gate extending in the first direction over the PFET active semiconductor region; a diffusion barrier sandwiched between the NFET gate and the PFET gate; and a continuous layer extending continuously in the first direction over the NFET gate and the PFET gate, the continuous layer contacting top surfaces of the NFET gate and the PFET gate, the continuous layer including at least one of a semiconductor, a metal or a conductive compound including a metal.