The present invention provides a method of forming a dual work function metal gate microelectronics device 200. In one aspect, the method includes forming nMOS and pMOS stacked gate structures 315a and 315b. The nMOS and pMOS stacked gate structures 315a and 315b each comprise a gate dielectric 205, a first metal layer, 305 located over the gate dielectric 205 and a sacrificial gate layer 310 located over the first metal layer 305. The method further includes removing the sacrificial gate layer 310 in at least one of the nMOS or pMOS stacked gate structures, thereby forming a gate opening 825 and modifying the first metal layer 305 within the gate opening 825 to form a gate electrode with a desired work function.