Single diffusion cut for gate structures

A structure comprising:

• a substrate material;
• a plurality of metal gate structures on the substrate material and comprising sidewall spacers, metal material and diffusion regions;
• a single diffusion break structure between adjacent metal gate structures of the plurality of metal gate structures, the single diffusion break structure being filled with insulator material and extending into the substrate in a first cross-section and being devoid of the substrate material in a second cross-section, and
• a gate cut along a longitudinal axis of the plurality of metal gate structures which includes the insulator material that isolates the adjacent metal gate structures along their longitudinal axis from one another,
• wherein the first cross-section is perpendicular to the plurality of metal gate structures and the second cross-section is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the plurality of metal gate structures.

A method comprising:

• forming a plurality of fin structures from semiconductor material;
• forming dummy gate structures over the plurality of fin structures;
• forming diffusion regions adjacent to the dummy gate structures;
• removing a portion of at least one of the plurality of dummy gate structures and fin structures while an insulator layer over remains protected by a capping material and a spacer material;
• forming of a gate cut in the insulator layer along a longitudinal axis of the dummy gate structures;
• forming single diffusion break structure comprising:
• forming a trench in the semiconductor material aligned with the removed portion of the at least one of the plurality of dummy gate structures and adjacent to the diffusion regions, while also removing selected fin structures;
• and
• filling the trench with insulator material;
• and
• filling the gate cut with the insulator material while filling the trench of the single diffusion break structure with the insulator material;
• and
• replacing the dummy gate structures with replacement gate structures.