A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising forming a metal suicide gate electrode on a semiconductor substrate surface (105). The method also comprises exposing the metal suicide gate electrode and the substrate surface to a cleaning process (120). The cleaning process includes a dry plasma etch (125) using an anhydrous fluoride-containing feed gas and a thermal sublimation (130) configured to leave the metal suicide gate electrode substantially unaltered. The method also comprises depositing a metal layer on source and drain regions of the substrate surface (150) and annealing the metal layer and the source and drain regions of the substrate surface (160) to form metal suicide source and drain contacts.
