An extreme ultraviolet mask including a substrate, a reflective multilayer stack on the substrate and a capping layer on the reflective multilayer stack is provided. The reflective multilayer stack is treated prior to formation of the capping layer on the reflective multilayer stack. The capping layer is formed by an ion-assisted ion beam deposition or an ion-assisted sputtering process.

A photomask includes a substrate, a multilayer stack disposed over the substrate and configured to reflect a radiation, a capping layer over the multilayer stack, and an anti-reflective layer over the capping layer. The anti-reflective layer comprises a first pattern, wherein the first pattern exposes the capping layer and is configured as a printable feature. The photomask also includes an absorber spaced apart from the printable feature from a top-view perspective.

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer (RML) disposed on the substrate, a capping layer disposed on the reflective multilayer, and an absorber layer disposed on the capping layer. The absorber layer has length or width dimensions smaller than the capping layer, and part of the capping layer is exposed by the absorber layer. The dimension of the absorber layer and the hard mask layer ranges between 146 cm to 148 cm. The dimensions of the substrate, the RML, and the capping layer range between 150 cm to 152 cm.

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer (RML) disposed on the substrate, a capping layer disposed on the reflective multilayer, and an absorber layer disposed on the capping layer. The absorber layer has length or width dimensions smaller than the capping layer, and part of the capping layer is exposed by the absorber layer. The dimension of the absorber layer and the hard mask layer ranges between 146 cm to 148 cm. The dimensions of the substrate, the RML, and the capping layer range between 150 cm to 152 cm.

A mask blank has a structure where a thin film for pattern formation and a hard mask film are stacked in this order on a transparent substrate, featured in that the thin film is formed of a material containing chromium, the hard mask film includes a stacked structure of a lower layer and an upper layer, the lower layer is formed of a material containing silicon and oxygen, the upper layer is formed of a material containing tantalum and oxygen with an oxygen content of 30 atom % or more, and the ratio of a thickness of the upper layer relative to a total thickness of the hard mask film is 0.7 or less.

The prevent disclosure provides a reflective mask. In some embodiments, the reflective mask includes a substrate, a sp.sup.2-hybrid carbon layer, a reflective multilayer, and an absorption pattern. The sp.sup.2-hybrid carbon layer is over the substrate. The reflective multilayer is over the sp.sup.2-hybrid carbon layer. The absorption pattern is over the reflective multilayer.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor includes: receiving a photomask substrate including a shielding layer; defining a chip region and a peripheral region adjacent to the chip region; forming a design pattern in the chip region; forming a reference pattern by emitting one first radiation shot and a beta pattern by emitting a plurality of second radiation shots in the peripheral region, wherein a pixel size of the first radiation shot is greater than a pixel size of the second radiation shot; comparing a reference roughness of a boundary of the reference pattern and a beta roughness of a boundary of the beta pattern; transferring the design pattern to the shielding layer if a difference between the reference roughness and the beta roughness is within a tolerance; and transferring the design pattern of the photomask to a semiconductor substrate.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor includes: receiving a photomask substrate including a shielding layer; defining a chip region and a peripheral region adjacent to the chip region; forming a design pattern in the chip region; forming a reference pattern by emitting one first radiation shot and a beta pattern by emitting a plurality of second radiation shots in the peripheral region, wherein a pixel size of the first radiation shot is greater than a pixel size of the second radiation shot; comparing a reference roughness of a boundary of the reference pattern and a beta roughness of a boundary of the beta pattern; transferring the design pattern to the shielding layer if a difference between the reference roughness and the beta roughness is within a tolerance; and transferring the design pattern of the photomask to a semiconductor substrate.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask, includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer stack on the substrate, and a single layer or multi-layer capping feature on the reflective multilayer stack. The capping feature includes a capping layer or capping layers including a material having an amorphous structure. Other described embodiments include capping layer(s) that contain element(s) having a first solid carbon solubility less than about 3. In multilayer capping feature embodiments, element(s) of the respective capping layers have different solid carbon solubility properties.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask, includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer stack on the substrate, and a multi-layer capping feature on the reflective multilayer stack. The multi-layer capping feature includes a first capping layer including a material containing an element having a first carbon solubility and a second capping layer including a material containing an element having a second carbon solubility. The first carbon solubility being different from the second carbon solubility. In some embodiments an element of the material of the first capping layer and an element of the second capping layer have extinction coefficients for EUV having a wavelength of 13.5 nm that are different.