Air gap spacer for metal gates

A method for forming a fin field effect transistor (FinFET) device comprising:

• forming a sacrificial spacer on a sidewall of a gate structure;
• forming a contact on an opposing sidewall of the gate structure that the sacrificial spacer is present on, the contact in electrical communication with at least one of said source region portion and said drain region portion;
• removing the sacrificial spacer;
• and
• forming a dielectric material layer in the opening exposed by removing the sacrificial spacer, wherein portions of the dielectric material layer contact one another at a pinch off region to form an air gap filling.

A method for forming a transistor device comprising:

• forming a sacrificial spacer on sidewalls of the gate structure, wherein the sacrificial spacer has a base width greater than an upper surface width;
• forming a contact to at least one of the source region and the drain region, wherein the contact abuts the sacrificial spacer;
• removing the sacrificial spacer;
• and
• forming a dielectric material layer in the opening that is formed by removing the sacrificial spacer to form an air gap.