Techniques disclosed herein provide a gate pitch scaling solution for creating source/drain contacts in a replacement metal gate fabrication scheme. Such techniques provide a self-aligned contact process that protects gate electrodes from shorts due to etching from misaligned patterns. Techniques herein provide a dual layer cap formed by making a semi conformal material deposition over a non-planar topography of RMG formation structures, and using selective etching and planarization to yield a dual layer protective cap that does not excessively increase an aspect ratio.