An IC includes a first standard cell (SC1) having a first circuit area (CA1) and a first transition area (TA1) placed on an edge of the CA1; and a SC2 having a CA2 and a TA2 placed on an edge of CA2′. CA1 includes a first and a second active region (AR1 and AR2) longitudinally oriented along a first direction (D1), and a first gate stack (G1) along a D2⊥D1 and extending over AR1 and AR2. G1 includes a first gate segment (GS1) contacting AR1 and a GS2 contacting AR2. GS1 and GS2 are different in composition. GS1 and GS2 are associated with a pFET and a nFET, respectively. TA1 includes a G2 longitudinally oriented along D2 and spans between opposite cell edges of the SC1. G2 is a lengthwise uniform gate stack. SC2 is placed in abutment with the SC1 such that TA1 and TA2 share a common edge.