A method is presented for reducing dielectric gouging during etching processes of a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) structure including an MRAM region and a non-MRAM region. The method includes forming protective layers in the MRAM region to preserve integrity of underlying dielectric layers, forming a bottom electrode in direct contact with the protective layers, and constructing an MRAM pillar over the bottom electrode, wherein the MRAM pillar includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and a top electrode.