Methods of forming a gate contact for a transistor above the active region and an air gap adjacent the gate of the transistor

A method, comprising:

• forming a transistor above an active region defined in a semiconducting substrate, said transistor comprising a gate structure, an initial gate cap layer positioned above said gate structure and an initial sidewall spacer positioned adjacent sidewalls of said gate structure;
• performing at least one gate contact etching process to remove a portion of said initial gate cap layer and a portion of said initial sidewall spacer so as to thereby define a gate contact cavity that exposes a portion of said gate structure, wherein the entire gate contact cavity is positioned vertically above a portion of said active region;
• forming an internal spacer comprising an insulating material within said gate contact cavity;
• completely forming a conductive gate contact structure (CB) in said gate contact cavity and inside said internal spacer, wherein said internal spacer surrounds said conductive gate contact structure (CB) and wherein the entire conductive gate contact structure (CB) is positioned vertically above said active region;
• after completely forming said conductive gate contact structure (CB), performing at least one etching process to remove a remaining portion of said initial gate cap layer and to recess a vertical height of exposed portions of said initial sidewall spacer to thereby define a recessed sidewall spacer and a gate cap cavity;
• and
• forming a replacement gate cap layer in said gate cap cavity by depositing gate cap material for said replacement gate cap layer in said gate cap cavity such that said gate cap material does not fill all of a space created by recessing said initial sidewall spacer so as to thereby define an air space between an upper surface of said recessed sidewall spacer and a lower surface of said replacement gate cap layer.