A semiconductor device comprises metal lines in a specific metallization
layer which have a different thickness and thus a different resistivity
in different device regions. In this way, in high density areas of the
device, metal lines of reduced thickness may be provided in order to
comply with process requirements for achieving a minimum pitch between
neighboring metal lines, while in other areas having less critical
constraints with respect to minimum pitch, a reduced resistivity may be
obtained at reduced lateral dimensions compared to conventional
strategies. For this purpose, the dielectric material of the
metallization layer may be appropriately patterned prior to forming
respective trenches or the etch behavior of the dielectric material may
be selectively adjusted in order to obtain differently deep trenches.