Methods for preventing epi damage during isolation processes

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a first channel region extending in a first lateral direction, and comprising a first epitaxial structure;
• a dielectric structure extending in a second lateral direction and disposed next to the first epitaxial structure;
• a plurality of first semiconductor sections interposed between a first sidewall of the dielectric structure and the first epitaxial structure;
• and
• a plurality of first dielectric sections interposed between the first sidewall of the dielectric structure and the first epitaxial structure, wherein the first dielectric sections are alternately arranged with the first semiconductor sections;
• wherein the dielectric structure has a second sidewall opposite to the first sidewall in the first lateral direction, and wherein a maximum variance percentage of a distance between the first sidewall and second sidewall is less than about 50%.

A method for fabricating semiconductor devices, comprising:

• forming a plurality of channel regions over a substrate, wherein the plurality of channel regions, in parallel with one another, extend along a first lateral direction, and wherein each of the plurality of channel regions includes a plurality of semiconductor layers vertically spaced from one another and in contact with a pair of epitaxial structures;
• forming a gate structure over the plurality of channel regions, wherein the gate structure extends along a second lateral direction;
• removing, through a first etching process, a portion of the gate structure that was disposed over at least one of the plurality of channel regions;
• removing, through a second etching process, respective first portions of the corresponding semiconductor layers of the at least one channel region with at least respective second portions of the corresponding semiconductor layers extending along the pair of epitaxial structures;
• and
• removing, through a third etching process, a portion of the substrate that was disposed below the removed semiconductor layers.