“…As CMOS technology downscales into sub-22 nm nodes, high-K & metal gate (HKMG) technology has become the mainstream in order to reduce leakage as well as to improve device performance. Two different HKMG integration schemes, i.e., gate-first and gate-last (replacement gate) process [1], [2], which are usually adopted in the mass production fabrication. In the replacement gate process, one of the biggest challenges is to fill gate trench of high aspect-ratio with conductive metals, such as Al [3] or W [4].…”