The trench-based semiconductor device 100 further includes a contact trench 124 which extends into the Si substrate 104. The contact trench 124 is separated from each adjacent gate trench 102 by a portion of the source region 120 and a portion of the body region 114. The contact trench 124 is filled with an electrically conductive material 126 such as doped polysilicon, metal, etc. which contacts the source region 120 at the sidewall of the contact trench 124 and a highly doped body contact region 128 at the bottom of the contact trench 124. The electrically conductive material 126 which fills the contact trench 124 may extend onto the front main surface 130 of the Si substrate 104 beyond the diffusion barrier structure 132 and in a direction toward the gate trench 102, so that the electrically conductive material 126 contacts the source region 120 along the front main surface 130 of the Si substrate 104 between the gate trench 102 and the diffusion barrier structure 132.