| abstract |
Improved silicide formation and associated devices are disclosed. An exemplary method includes providing a semiconductor material having spaced source and drain regions therein, forming a gate structure interposed between the source and drain regions, performing a gate replacement process on the gate structure to form a metal gate electrode therein, forming a hard mask layer over the metal gate electrode, forming silicide layers on the respective source and drain regions in the semiconductor material, removing the hard mask layer to expose the metal gate electrode, and forming source and drain contacts, each source and drain contact being conductively coupled to a respective one of the silicide layers. |