Semiconductor structures with densely spaced contact features

Abstract

Semiconductor structures and methods are provided. An exemplary method according to the present disclosure includes forming a first source/drain feature, a second source/drain feature and an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer over the first and second source/drain features. The method also includes removing a portion of the ILD layer to form a cut feature opening and forming a hybrid cut feature therein to divide a to-be-formed metal layer into multiple pieces as source/drain contacts. The hybrid cut feature includes a conformal dielectric liner over the cut feature opening and a dielectric filler over the dielectric liner. During the formation of a source/drain contact opening, at least a portion of the dielectric liner extending along a sidewall of the dielectric filler is partially and selectively removed, leading to a dimension-reduced hybrid cut feature and thus a reduced spacing between two adjacent source/drain contacts.