Patent 9508791 was granted and assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on November, 2016 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A semiconductor device comprises a non-conductive gate feature over a substrate, and a metal gate electrode over the substrate. The metal gate electrode comprises a portion over an active region of the substrate, and a portion over an isolation feature of the substrate ending at an end cap. A vertical profile of the metal gate electrode at the end cap matches a vertical profile of the metal gate electrode in the portion over the active region.