a method for fabricating high - aspect - ratio contacts on integrated circuits , such as embedded drams , using a borderless pre - opened hard - mask technique is achieved . after forming gate electrodes for field effect transistors and local interconnections from a polycide layer having a silicon nitride hard mask or cap layer , an anti - reflective coating is used to protect the fet source / drain areas . a photoresist mask and plasma etching are used to remove portions of the hard mask on the interconnections for contact openings , while the anti - reflective protects the source / drain areas . the photoresist mask and the anti - reflective coating are removed , and an interlevel dielectric layer is deposited . the high - aspect - ratio contact openings can now be etched in the ild layer to the source / drain areas , while concurrently etching reliable contact openings to the polycide interconnections where the cap si 3 n 4 has been removed without overetching the source / drain areas .