Techniques relate to forming an integrated circuit. Trench contacts are formed on top of at least one source and drain of an intermediate structure. An interlayer dielectric is formed on top of the intermediate structure. A trench is cut through the interlayer dielectric, through at least one of the trench contacts, down to a shallow trench isolation area. The trench is filled with a filling material. Upper contacts are formed on top of the trench contacts in the interlayer dielectric. A first metal layer pattern is patterned such that a separation is formed by a filling material width of the filling material. First metal layers are formed according to the first metal layer pattern, where tips of the first metal layers are aligned to the filling material that fills the trench, such that the tips of the first metal layers are separated by the filling material width.