US Patent 11282705 Semiconductor device and method of forming the same

A semiconductor device includes a gate electrode, spacers and a hard mask structure. The spacers are disposed on opposite sidewalls of the gate electrode. The hard mask structure includes a first hard mask layer and a second hard mask layer. A lower portion of the first hard mask layer is disposed between the spacers and on the gate electrode, and a top portion of the first hard mask layer is surrounded by the second hard mask layer.