Abstract: Provided is a mask blank which is used for manufacturing an imprinting mold and which may form a fine mold pattern with high pattern accuracy. A mask blank (10) includes a transparent substrate (1) and a thin film (2) contacted with a surface of the substrate. The thin film (2) includes a laminated film including an upper layer (4) which is composed of a material containing silicon (Si) or a material containing tantalum (Ta), and a lower layer (3) which is composed of a material containing at least one of hafnium (Hf) and zirconium (Zr) and containing substantially no oxygen.

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.

Abstract: A mask blank includes a transparent substrate and a light-shielding film formed on the transparent substrate. The light-shielding film is made of a material composed mainly of a metal that is dry-etchable with a chlorine-based gas. A resist film is used to form a transfer pattern in the light-shielding film. An etching mask film is formed on an upper surface of the light-shielding film and is made of a material containing a transition metal, silicon, and at least one of nitrogen and oxygen. A content ratio of the transition metal to a total of the transition metal and the silicon in the etching mask film is less than 9%.

Abstract: According to certain embodiments, a mask blank for an electron beam writing is provided, capable of forming a resist pattern of a 3-dimensional topology through an one-time writing. The mask blank includes a substrate, a thin film formed on the substrate, and an electron beam resist film formed on the thin film. The electron beam resist film is made of a laminated film including at least a lower resist film and an upper resist film. The lower resist film and the upper resist film have different resist sensitivities with respect to an electron beam.

Abstract: The present invention provides a photomask blank in which a light-shielding film consisting of a plurality of layers is provided on a light transmissive substrate, wherein a layer that is provided to be closest to the front surface is made of CrO, CrON, CrN, CrOC or CrOCN, and wherein the atom number density of the front-surface portion of the light-shielding film is 9×1022 to 14×1022 atms/cm3.

Abstract: A mask blank is formed on a transparent substrate with a light-shielding film of a material mainly containing chromium and is used for obtaining a photomask by forming the light-shielding film into a transfer pattern by lithography using an electron beam writing resist. The mask blank includes a mask layer formed on the light-shielding film for serving as an etching mask in etching that forms the light-shielding film into the transfer pattern. The mask layer is made of a material containing silicon. The mask blank further includes a chromium nitride-based film formed on the mask layer and containing at least chromium and nitrogen.

Abstract: The present invention provides a photomask blank used for producing a photomask to which an ArF excimer laser light is applied, wherein: a light-shielding film is provided on a light transmissive substrate; the light-shielding film has a laminated structure in which a lower layer, an interlayer and an upper layer are laminated in this order from the side close to the light transmissive substrate; the thickness of the entire light-shielding film is 60 nm or less; the lower layer is made of a film containing a metal and has a first etching rate; the upper layer is made of a film containing a metal and has a third etching rate; the interlayer is made of a film containing the same metal as that contained in the lower layer or the upper layer and has a second etching rate that is lower than the first etching rate and the third etching rate; and the thickness of the interlayer is 30% or less of the thickness of the entire light-shielding film.

Abstract: A photomask blank has a light shieldable film formed on a light transmitting substrate. The light shieldable film has a light shielding layer which is formed of molybdenum silicide metal containing molybdenum in a content greater than 20 atomic % and not greater than 40 atomic % and which has a thickness smaller than 40 nm, an antireflection layer formed on the light shielding layer in contact with the light shielding layer and formed of a molybdenum silicide compound containing at least one of oxygen and nitrogen, and a low reflection layer formed under the light shielding layer in contact with the light shielding layer.

Abstract: The present invention provides a photomask blank used for producing a photomask to which an ArF excimer laser light is applied, wherein: a light-shielding film is provided on a light transmissive substrate; the light-shielding film has a laminated structure in which a back-surface antireflection layer, a light-shielding layer and a front-surface antireflection layer are laminated in this order from the side close to the light transmissive substrate; the thickness of the entire light-shielding film is 60 nm or less; the back-surface antireflection layer is made of a film containing a metal and has a first etching rate; the front-surface antireflection layer is made of a film containing a metal and has a third etching rate; the light-shielding layer is made of a film containing the same metal as that contained in the back-surface antireflection layer or the front-surface antireflection layer and has a second etching rate that is lower than the first etching rate and the third etching rate; and the thickness of

Abstract: Provided is a mask blank surface treatment method for surface-treating, using a treatment liquid, a surface of a thin film, to be formed into a transfer pattern, of a mask blank having the thin film on a substrate. The thin film is made of a material that can be etched by ion-based dry etching. The concentration of an etching inhibitor contained in the treatment liquid is 0.3 ppb or less.

Abstract: Provided is a transfer mask which has a transfer pattern formed in a pattern-forming thin film provided on a transparent substrate and is adapted to be applied with exposure light having a wavelength of 200 nm or less. The pattern-forming thin film is made of a material containing silicon an a transition metal other than chromium and the chromium content in the film is less than 1.0×1018 atoms/cm3.

Abstract: A phase shift mask blank having, on a transparent substrate, a phase shift film including, as main components, a metal, silicon (Si) and nitrogen (N), having optical characteristics of a transmittance of equal to or greater than 9% and equal to or less than 30% with respect to a wavelength of the ArF excimer laser beam and a phase difference of equal to or greater than 150° and less than 180°, and a light-shielding film formed on the phase shift film. A thickness of the phase shift film is equal to or less than 80 nrn, a refractive index (n) with respect to the wavelength of the ArF excimer laser beam is equal to or greater than 2.3, and an extinction coefficient (k) is equal to or greater than 0.28.

Abstract: Provided is a mask blank which enables EB defect correction to be suitably applied and which further enables a reduction in the thickness of a light-shielding film. A mask blank 10 is used for producing a transfer mask adapted to be applied with ArF exposure light and has a light-shielding film 2 on a transparent substrate 1. The light-shielding film 2 is composed mainly of a material containing a transition metal, silicon, and at least one or more elements selected from oxygen and nitrogen. An etching rate of the light-shielding film by a fluorine-containing substance in a state of not being irradiated with charged particles is low enough to at least ensure etching selectivity with respect to an etching rate of the light-shielding film by the fluorine-containing substance in a state of being irradiated with the charged particles.

Abstract: A thin film made of a material containing a metal and silicon is formed on a light-transmissive substrate. Then, a treatment is performed to modify a main surface of the thin film in advance so that when exposure light having a wavelength of 200 nm or less is accumulatively irradiated on a thin film pattern of a photomask to be produced by patterning the thin film, the transfer characteristic of the thin film pattern does not change more than a predetermined degree. This treatment is performed by carrying out, for example, a heat treatment in an atmosphere containing oxygen at 450° C. to 900° C.

Abstract: Problem: There is a demand for a phase shift mask that makes it possible to decrease the film thickness of the phase shift film, can satisfy the requirement relating to pattern accuracy, without collapsing the OPC pattern, and enables control of optical characteristics and pattern defect inspection, and also for a phase shift mask blank as an original plate for such a phase shift mask. Means for solving the problems: A phase shift mask blank of the present invention has, on a transparent substrate, a phase shift film including, as main components, a metal, silicon (Si) and nitrogen (N), having optical characteristics of a transmittance of equal to or greater than 9% and equal to or less than 30% with respect to a wavelength of the ArF excimer laser beam and a phase difference of equal to or greater than 150° and less than 180°, and a light-shielding film formed on the phase shift film.

Abstract: A washing apparatus is provided with a washing tub 2 whose rotating axis is in a horizontal direction or in a horizontally inclined direction, and has a concave and convex curve surface 22 installed on an inside wall surface of the washing tub 2 as well as has a baffle 25 protruding in the direction of the rotating axis installed. Then, by rotating the washing tub with a level of a cleaning liquid to be supplied to the washing tub 2 set to be higher than the rotating axis, a spurious non-gravity wash method is adopted in which damage to a washing article is small. In addition, by rotating the washing tub 2 with the level of the cleaning liquid to be supplied to the washing tub 2 set to be lower than the rotating axis, a beat wash method in which water saving effect is high is adopted.

Abstract: A mask blank for use in the manufacture of a transfer mask adapted to be applied with ArF excimer laser exposure light is disclosed. The mask blank has, on a transparent substrate, a light-shielding film for forming a transfer pattern. The light-shielding film has an at least two-layer structure including a lower layer and an upper layer from the transparent substrate side. The lower layer is made of a material composed of a transition metal, silicon, and nitrogen and having a nitrogen content of 21 at % or more and a refractive index n of 1.9 or less. The upper layer is made of a material composed of a transition metal, silicon, and nitrogen and having a refractive index n of 2.1 or less. A surface layer of the upper layer contains oxygen and has a nitrogen content of 14 at % or more.

Abstract: The present invention is a method of manufacturing a transfer mask with use of a mask blank in which a thin film for pattern formation and a chromium-based thin film made of a material containing chromium are stacked on a transparent substrate in this order. The thin film for pattern formation is made of material containing silicon and a transition metal other than chromium. The chromium-based thin film is made of a material containing chromium. Exposure light having a wavelength of 200 nm or less is applied to the transfer mask.

Abstract: A photomask blank which is capable of preventing static buildup caused by electron beam pattern drawing for forming a resist pattern. The photomask blank provides a good pattern accuracy through optimization of the dry etching rate along the depth direction of the shielding film, and is capable of reducing the dry etching time by increasing the dry etching rate of the shielding film. The photomask blank includes a translucent substrate having thereon a shielding film composed mainly of chromium and the shielding film contains hydrogen. The shielding film is formed in such a manner that the film formation rate of the layer at the surface side is lower than the film formation rate of the layer at the translucent substrate side of the shielding film. The dry etching rate of the shielding film is lower at the translucent substrate side than at the surface side.

Abstract: A mask blank for use in the manufacture of a transfer mask adapted to be applied with ArF exposure light is disclosed. The mask blank has a light-shielding film on a transparent substrate. The light-shielding film has an at least two-layer structure comprising a lower layer composed mainly of a material containing a transition metal, silicon, and nitrogen and an upper layer composed mainly of a material containing a transition metal, silicon, and nitrogen. The ratio of the etching rate of the lower layer to that of the upper layer is 1.0 or more and 5.0 or less in etching which is carried out by supplying a fluorine-containing substance to a target portion and irradiating charged particles to the target portion.