MIDDLE-OF-LINE (MOL) MANUFACTURED INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICs) EMPLOYING LOCAL INTERCONNECTS OF METAL LINES USING AN ELONGATED VIA, AND RELATED METHODS

An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• a substrate;
• a middle-of-line (MOL) layer disposed above the substrate;
• a means for providing a metal interconnect disposed over the MOL layer, the means for providing the metal interconnect comprising a metal interconnect layer means comprising a first metal conductive means and a second metal conductive means;
• and
• a means for coupling the metal interconnect layer means and the MOL layer, the means for coupling positioned above the MOL layer and beneath the metal interconnect layer means.

A method of forming an integrated circuit (IC), comprising:

• as part of a front-end-of-line (FEOL) process, providing a substrate;
• as part of the FEOL process, providing a middle-of-line (MOL) layer disposed above the substrate;
• as part of a MOL process, providing a metal interconnect layer disposed over the MOL layer, the metal interconnect layer comprising a first metal conductive element and a second metal conductive element;
• and
• as part of the MOL process, providing an elongated via disposed between the metal interconnect layer and the MOL layer in contact with the first metal conductive element and the second metal conductive element to interconnect the first metal conductive element and the second metal conductive element.