Photomask blank, photomask, and methods of manufacturing the same

Abstract

A photomask blank is for use in manufacturing a photomask to be applied with exposure light having a wavelength of 200 nm or less. The photomask blank has a light-transmitting substrate and a light-shielding film formed thereon. The light-shielding film has a light-shielding layer containing a transition metal and silicon and a front-surface antireflection layer formed contiguously on the light-shielding layer and made of a material containing at least one of oxygen and nitrogen. The light-shielding film has a front-surface reflectance of a predetermined value or less for the exposure light and has a property capable of controlling the change width of the front-surface reflectance at the exposure wavelength to be within 2% when the thickness of the front-surface antireflection layer changes in the range of 2 nm. The material of the front-surface antireflection layer having a refractive index n and an extinction coefficient k capable of achieving such property is selected.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.