The portion of the spacer material on the sidewalls of the fin 110 is subsequently removed while the gate spacer 112 remains. In an embodiment, this is achieved by one or more treatment and etching processes. In a first step of this embodiment, the gate spacer 122 is selectively modified to have a different etch resistance than spacer material on the sidewalls of the fin 110. For example, this can be done by a directional ion implantation or plasma treatment in the presence of a directional ion beam so that the gate spacer 122 is more resistant to an etchant than the spacer material on the sidewalls of the fin 110. In a second step of this embodiment, the spacer material on the sidewalls of the fin 110 is substantially removed by a selective etching process while the gate spacer 122 substantially remains. The etching process exposes the sidewall surfaces of the fins 104. In embodiments, operation 16 further includes a cleaning process that cleans the surfaces of the fin 110 including the top and sidewall surfaces and prepares them for a subsequent trimming process. The various etching and cleaning processes above may recess the fin 110 slightly.