A semiconductor chip having a photonics device and a CMOS device which includes a photonics device portion and a CMOS device portion on a semiconductor chip; a metal or polysilicon gate on the CMOS device portion, the metal or polysilicon gate having a gate extension that extends toward the photonics device portion; a germanium gate on the photonics device portion such that the germanium gate is coplanar with the metal or polysilicon gate, the germanium gate having a gate extension that extends toward the CMOS device portion, the germanium gate extension and metal or polysilicon gate extension joined together to form a common gate; spacers formed on the germanium gate and the metal or polysilicon gate; and nitride encapsulation formed on the germanium gate. A method is also disclosed pertaining to fabricating the semiconductor chip.