Patent ID: 7482236

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: forming a gate stack on a substrate, the gate stack having a sidewall; depositing an oxide-nitride-oxide material on the gate stack; removing portions of the oxide-nitride-oxide material to form an oxide-nitride-oxide structure having a generally L-shaped cross-section with a vertical portion along at least part of the gate stack sidewall and a horizontal portion along the substrate; depositing a top oxide material over the substrate; depositing a silicon nitride spacer material over the top oxide material; removing portions of the top oxide material and the silicon nitride spacer material to form a silicon nitride spacer separated from the oxide-nitride-oxide stack by the top oxide material; forming source/drain regions in the substrate; and wherein a portion of a top of the oxide-nitride-oxide structure is recessed relative to a top of the gate stack.