A local interconnection to a device region in/on a substrate is formed by depositing either silicon oxynitride or silicon oxime as an etch stop layer, at a temperature of less than about 480.degree. C. to increase the hot carrier injection (HCI) lifetime of the resulting semiconductor device. A dielectric layer is then deposited over the etch stop layer and through-holes are etched exposing the etch stop layer using a first etching process. A second etching process is then conducted, which etches through the etch stop layer exposing at least one device region. The resulting through-hole is then filled with conductive material(s) to form a local interconnection.