A method of forming a planar CMOS transistor divides the step of forming the gate layer into a first step of patterning a resist layer with a first portion of the gate layer pattern and then etching the polysilicon with the pattern of the gates. A second step patterns a second resist layer with the image of the gate pads and local interconnect and then etching the polysilicon with the pattern of the gate pads and local interconnect, thereby reducing the number of diffraction and other cross-talk from different exposed areas.