Trench mosfet shield poly contact

A method of forming a vertical field effect transistor device, the method comprising:

• providing a workpiece comprising a semiconductor layer;
• forming a recess in the semiconductor layer to define a plurality of mesas spaced apart from an outer perimeter of the recess in a lateral direction by a first dimension, and spaced apart from each other by approximately the same dimension;
• forming a shield region within the recess at a location concentric with to the outer perimeter and extending from the location coincident to the outer perimeter to locations between each pair of adjacent mesas;
• forming a plurality of gates, each gate located between a corresponding pair of adjacent mesas having channel regions and overlying a portion of the shield region between each pair of adjacent mesas;
• forming a dielectric over the workpiece after forming the plurality of gates;
• forming a conductive plug opening corresponding to each mesa pair at a location that includes a point that is equidistant from an end of each mesa of the mesa pair and from the outer perimeter in the lateral direction, wherein the contact opening exposes a portion of the shield region.