A spacer structure for FinFETs. The structure includes (a) a substrate, (b) a semiconductor fin region on top of the substrate, (c) a gate dielectric region on side walls of the semiconductor fin region, and (d) a gate electrode region on top and on side walls of the semiconductor fin region. The gate dielectric region (i) is sandwiched between and (ii) electrically insulates the gate electrode region and the semiconductor fin region. The structure further includes a first spacer region on a first side wall of the gate electrode region. A first side wall of the semiconductor fin region is exposed to a surrounding ambient. A top surface of the first spacer region is coplanar with a top surface of the gate electrode region.