The opening 180 will be filled by a conductive material later, for example, to form a conductive component such as a via or a metal line. Ideally, the opening 180 should be aligned with the conductive component 120, such that a good electrical connection can be established between the conductive component 120 and the conductive component to be formed in the opening 180. However, as is often the case in real world semiconductor fabrication, the alignment between the opening 180 and the conductive component 120 is imperfect due to overlay control capability limitations. This problem is exacerbated as the geometry sizes shrink for each semiconductor technology node. Consequently, as shown in FIG. 1F, a misalignment exists between the opening 180 and the conductive component 120, which is manifested as the opening 180 being shifted “to the right” such that the opening 180 is now located above a portion of the ILD 130. In conventional semiconductor devices, such a misalignment may have led to an undesirable etching of the portion of the ILD 130 located under the opening 180 as a result of over-etching. The over-etched portion of the ILD 130 would then be filled with the conductive material later when the conductive material fills the opening 180. This may cause problems such as time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) or leakage within the semiconductor device 100.