Methods and apparatus are disclosed for manufacturing metal contacts under ground-up contact pads within a device. A device may comprise a bottom metal layer with a bottom metal contact, a top metal layer with a top metal contact, and a plurality of middle metal layers. Any given metal layer of the plurality of middle metal layers comprises a metal contact, the metal contact is substantially vertically below the top metal contact, substantially vertically above the bottom metal contact, and substantially vertically above a metal contact in any metal layer that is below the given metal layer. The metal contacts may be of various and different shapes. All the metal contacts in the plurality of middle metal layers and the bottom metal contact may be smaller than the top metal contact, therefore occupying less area and saving more area for other functions such as device routing.