A halftone phase shift-type photomask blank including a transparent substrate, and a halftone phase shift film formed on the substrate, and including at least one layer composed of silicon, nitrogen and oxygen is provided. The halftone phase shift film has a phase shift of at least 150° and up to 200° and a transmittance of at least 20%, with respect to exposure light having a wavelength of up to 200 nm, and a film surface having a surface roughness RMS of up to 0.8 nm, and an in-plane variation of transmittance calculated from the maximum transmittance T.sub.max and the minimum transmittance T.sub.min within a mask pattern forming area by the expression: (T.sub.max−T.sub.min)/(T.sub.max+T.sub.min)×100 is up to 2%.

A halftone phase shift-type photomask blank including a transparent substrate, and a halftone phase shift film formed on the substrate, and including at least one layer composed of silicon, nitrogen and oxygen is provided. The halftone phase shift film has a phase shift of at least 150° and up to 200° and a transmittance of at least 20%, with respect to exposure light having a wavelength of up to 200 nm, and a film surface having a surface roughness RMS of up to 0.8 nm, and an in-plane variation of transmittance calculated from the maximum transmittance T.sub.max and the minimum transmittance T.sub.min within a mask pattern forming area by the expression: (T.sub.max−T.sub.min)/(T.sub.max+T.sub.min)×100 is up to 2%.

Provided is a mask blank .

A transmittance adjusting film is provided on a phase shift film; the phase shift film generates a phase difference of 150 degrees or more and 210 degrees or less between an ArF excimer laser exposure light transmitted through the phase shift film and the exposure light transmitted through the air for a same distance as a thickness of the phase shift film; and a refractive index nu with respect to a wavelength of the exposure light, an extinction coefficient ku with respect to the wavelength of the exposure light, and a thickness du[nm] of the transmittance adjusting film satisfy both equations (1) and (2) given below.

[00001]${\text{d}}_{\text{U}}\le \text{-17}\text{.63}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}{}^{\text{3}}\text{+142}\text{.0}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}{}^2\text{-364}\text{.9}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}\text{+315}\text{.8}$

[00002]${\text{d}}_{\text{U}}\ge \text{-2}\text{.805}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}{}^3\text{+19}\text{.48}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}{}^{\text{2}}\text{-43}\text{.58}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}\text{+38}\text{.11}$

Provided is a mask blank .

A transmittance adjusting film is provided on a phase shift film; the phase shift film generates a phase difference of 150 degrees or more and 210 degrees or less between an ArF excimer laser exposure light transmitted through the phase shift film and the exposure light transmitted through the air for a same distance as a thickness of the phase shift film; and a refractive index nu with respect to a wavelength of the exposure light, an extinction coefficient ku with respect to the wavelength of the exposure light, and a thickness du[nm] of the transmittance adjusting film satisfy both equations (1) and (2) given below.

[00001]${\text{d}}_{\text{U}}\le \text{-17}\text{.63}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}{}^{\text{3}}\text{+142}\text{.0}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}{}^2\text{-364}\text{.9}\times {\text{n}}_{\text{U}}\text{+315}\text{.8}$

[00002]${\text{d}}_{\text{U}}\ge \text{-2}\text{.805}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}{}^3\text{+19}\text{.48}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}{}^{\text{2}}\text{-43}\text{.58}\times {\text{k}}_{\text{U}}\text{+38}\text{.11}$

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate, and a multilayer reflective film configured to reflect EUV light, a phase shift film configured to shift a phase of the EUV light, and a semi-light-shielding film configured to shield the EUV light, which are formed on the substrate in this order. A reflectance at a wavelength of 13.5 nm when a surface of the semi-light-shielding film is irradiated with the EUV light is less than 7%. A reflectance at a wavelength of 13.5 nm when a surface of the phase shift film is irradiated with the EUV light is 9% or more and less than 15%.

A method and apparatus for forming a layer including a light transmitting substrate, and a light shielding film disposed on the light transmitting substrate, and a phase shift film disposed between the light transmitting substrate and the light shielding film. A center measuring area based on the center of the light shielding film and an edge measuring area being distant by 20 mm from the edge of the light shielding film. The center measuring area and the edge measuring area are respectively squares having a side of 20 μm.

A method and apparatus for forming a layer including a light transmitting substrate, and a light shielding film disposed on the light transmitting substrate, and a phase shift film disposed between the light transmitting substrate and the light shielding film. A center measuring area based on the center of the light shielding film and an edge measuring area being distant by 20 mm from the edge of the light shielding film. The center measuring area and the edge measuring area are respectively squares having a side of 20 μm.

A method of making a semiconductor structure includes forming a plurality of gate electrodes over a plurality of active regions. The method further includes increasing a width of a portion of each of the plurality of gate electrodes between adjacent active regions of the plurality of active regions, wherein increasing the width of the portion of each of the plurality of gate electrodes comprises increasing the width of less than an entirety of each of the plurality of gate electrodes between the adjacent active regions. The method further includes removing a central region of each of the plurality of gate electrodes, wherein the central region has the increased width, and removing the central region comprises removing less than an entirety of the portion of each of the plurality of gate electrodes.

Provided is a reflective mask blank with which it is possible to further reduce the shadowing effect of a reflective mask, and also possible to form a fine and highly accurate phase-shift pattern. A reflective mask blank having, in the following order on a substrate, a multilayer reflective film and a phase-shift film that shifts the phase of EUV light, said reflective mask blank characterized in that the phase-shift film has a thin film comprising a metal-containing material that contains: ruthenium (Ru); and at least one element from among chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), (Co), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), germanium (Ge), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), tin (Sn), tellurium (Te), hafnium (Hf), tungsten (W), and rhenium (Re).

Provided is a reflective mask blank with which it is possible to further reduce the shadowing effect of a reflective mask, and also possible to form a fine and highly accurate phase-shift pattern. A reflective mask blank having, in the following order on a substrate, a multilayer reflective film and a phase-shift film that shifts the phase of EUV light, said reflective mask blank characterized in that the phase-shift film has a thin film comprising a metal-containing material that contains: ruthenium (Ru); and at least one element from among chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), (Co), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), germanium (Ge), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), tin (Sn), tellurium (Te), hafnium (Hf), tungsten (W), and rhenium (Re).