Gate straining techniques as described herein can be utilized during the fabrication of NMOS transistor devices, PMOS transistor devices, or CMOS device structures. For an NMOS device, conductive vias are formed in TEOS oxide regions surrounding the sidewall spacers of a metal gate structure, where the metal gate structure includes compressive nitride material within the gate opening. After forming the conductive vias the remaining TEOS oxide is removed and tensile nitride material is deposited between the sidewall spacers and the conductive vias. The sidewall spacers serve as retaining walls for the tensile nitride material, which preserves the tensile characteristics of the material. A similar fabrication technique is utilized to form a PMOS device. For a PMOS device, however, the metal gate structure includes tensile nitride material within the gate opening, and compressive nitride material between the sidewall spacers and the conductive vias.