One illustrative method disclosed herein includes forming a liner layer above a layer of spacer material, forming an ion-containing region in at least a portion of a first portion of the liner layer while not forming the ion-containing region in a second portion of the liner layer, performing a liner etching process on the first and second portions of the liner layer so as to remove the second portion of the liner layer while leaving at least a portion of the first portion of the liner layer positioned adjacent a gate structure and, with the first portion of the liner layer positioned adjacent the gate structure, performing at least one spacer formation anisotropic etching process on the layer of spacer material so as to define a spacer adjacent the gate structure.